Learning to Run

A tale of two running clubs

2010-01-18T21:21:00.002+09:00

I have a relationship with two different running clubs. It is kind of a long story but I will try to explain.

There is one club that I run with that meets near Osaka castle every Wednesday night. The training is great. We usually do a 15K tempo run. A tempo run is a run at a hard pace but slower than race pace. It is a run that I can't really do alone because it is difficult to get to that level of intensity by yourself. The problem with this group is that they kind of ignore me. Of course they will run with me but in the meeting room where we meet before running, there is very little interaction. I watch them with other new members and they are quite open. They invite the new member to other runs/activities etc. But for me they don't really say much. They will answer questions but never initiate them. The impression I have gotten many times from them is that they don't want me there. I have quit that group several times but the head of the club has called me and invited me back. But when I get there it is always the same. For example one time only myself and the head of the club were there. When it was time to go the the starting place he just took off and left me. Another time I saw the team leader in a restaurant right after the run. He was with a friend. He looked at me laughed and walked away. This past week I returned after a long time away. I decided the benefit to my running was greater than the uncomfortable time I spend withe them. When I got there they were quite warm. I don't know how long this will last but for now I will take advantage of the good training and ignore the fact that they are ignoring me.

I would guess it sounds kind of immature/insecure that I am worried about being ignored. My only response is that is is quite uncomfortable to be with a group when you are not sure if you should really be there.

My other group is also in Osaka. I had a very similar experience with them. I did some races and workouts with them over a period of a couple of years. My experience was that each time I ran with them was like the first time they had ever me them. There was no developing friendships, no improved communication, just many one way conversations. I ask a question, they respond, I ask another question, shorter response.....long uncomfortable silence..I walk away. I did this for a couple of years and after telling myself each time that I would never do it again I really quit. One day the club president called me and asked why I didn't come to his club activities anymore. I honestly told him that it was too uncomfortable. I said it was not a pleasant experience to be with a large group of people when you are clearly on the outside. He seemed to understand but wanted me to give it another try.

He said if I was with them more often and for a longer period of time things would change. I have been in Japan a long time and I have heard that before many times. But I decided to give it another attempt. I am now going to most of their activities and staying after runs to eat with them. Before the idea of spending more time with them after a very uncomfortable few hours was the last thing I wanted to do. But it seems to be going better. And from a selfish perspective it is very good for both my Japanese language and my running. Whenever we are together we are 100% in Japanese and they get me into many races that would be inaccessible by myself so I am clearly benefitting from the relationship even though it is uncomfortable at times.

Two wins in two weeks

2010-01-18T21:08:00.002+09:00

It has definitely been a successful two weeks. Last weekend I ran an ekiden with one of my running clubs. Each person on our team ran 3K, so the total distance was 5x3k=15k. I ran lead off, my favorite position. I think going first is best because you can see who you are racing against. In the later legs you might never see your opponent. I ran a pretty good leg, I think I was 2nd or 3rd in my division and the rest of the team brought us into 1st place for our second win in two years.

This past weekend I ran a 5k along the Yodo river. Every third Sunday one of my clubs has an old-school race along the river bank. It is old-school because it is how I picture races were, back in the 60's before the running boom hit. There are very few bells and whistles, just simple races in the park along the banks of the river. When I lined up to start the race I took a quick look at my fellow runners and had a good idea that I would win and thankfully I did. Honestly just by looking at people you can often, not always, tell how fast they will be. At 49 it is great to win a race even a low-key race like that.

update

2009-09-20T17:40:00.002+09:00

After the last place finish, I was not eager to race again but Guito-san, the head of my running club, convinced me to give it another shot. First he said to just come and watch, and then he changed it to just run the first 2k of the 5k race. He said it was totally ok to drop out once I passed the 2k mark. Somehow this seemed reasonable to me that day, so I agreed to do it. Actually my "secret" plan was try to run 90 sec. pace and then drop if I went over that pace. I managed to stay close to 90 sec. race the whole 5k and finished in 18:51, just 6 sec. over 90 pace for the entire distance.

Race 2

With my confidence somewhat restored I decided to run another 5k track race in the beginning of July just before I returned to the U.S. for vacation. July in Japan is quite hot and at race time it was 95 degrees and humid. Before the race I went on a warm-up and it was quite brutal. In my warm-up I was dying and I thought there was no way I would run well. Thankfully I did a pretty long warm-up of 25 minutes and I think it helped me somehow.

There were two heats of the 5k and fortunately I was placed in the slower heat. But I still had no idea how fast the other runners were and what to expect in the race. The gun went off and after 200 meters I was surprisingly in third place. Honestly I was shocked. I then moved into first through no real effort of my own but just because the other runners slowed down. In the past when I have led races I pushed the pace and I would try to break away, but in this race because of the heat I just tried to maintain. I knew that I couldn't pick up the pace at all. Unfortunately a younger guy, about 30yrs old, passed me and opened up a gap. At that point I was quite pleased to be in second so I just tried to hang on to my place. For the last mile I could hear a teammate on my heals. I could hear the sound of his footsteps very close so I was a bit worried. With 400 meters to go I picked uo the pace a bit and kicked it in for a second place finish.

I was very pleased with the race. I haven't finished that high in a track race in a long time and I thought I never would again so it was a great surprise.

DFL

2009-04-06T21:11:00.004+09:00

Ahh..why is glory so short? ...Just the last post I was writing about "winning" a race. Well this race was the exact opposite. I signed up to run a track meet with one of the teams I run with. I thought it was a Masters track meet, (for older gentlemen), but was surprised to find it was an open meet with probably 85% high school kids, 10% open runners and 5% "old" guys like me. There were three heats in the 5k, and I assumed that I would be in the slow heat. I was surprised to find when I got there that I would be in the middle heat.

Anyway to back track a bit,(no pun intended) I arrived a little late with less then an hour before my race. I had run 5 and a half miles earlier that morning, so I was already relatively warmed up. When I arrived, the head of the club gave me my race number and other info. I proceeded to get ready, pinned the number on the front and back and waited for the first call for my race. They made the announcement for all the runners in my heat to gather in the waiting area. We showed our front and back number to the officials to prove they were correctly on, and then for some reason that I totally didn't understand, they gave us all new numbers. We had to remove our old numbers, from the front and back and replace them with totally different numbers for the front, back and a hip number. It must be one of those cultural mysteries that I will never understand. After we were all pinned and ready to go they moved us to an area next to the 5K starting line. We had to wait in that area until the 1st heat of the 5k was run. As I was watching the 1st heat of the 5k I noticed one runner who was was last by a large margin. Obviously somebody did a poor job of seeding(dividing the runners by their previous best times) the race. I clearly remember thinking I would hate to be that poor sucker. (This is foreshadowing I believe.)

So right after the 1st heat finished, they called my heat to the starting line. As I looked around at my competitors I couldn't help but notice they were all high school age except for one other "old" guy. I also couldn't help but notice that they all looked thin and fast. The gun sounded the runners were off and in a matter of seconds the race was over for me. At 200 meters I was in last place and quickly quickly getting "laster". It was all very obvious what the conclusion of the race was going to be and I considered veering off the track while no one was looking. I mean who would ever notice me? The only Caucasian guy running in a track meet with a bunch of Japanese high school kids. But I didn't make the hour and a half train trip to drop out of the race so I hung in there, tried to appear that I was running fast, and finished. It was one of those experiences that either demoralizes you to the point of quitting or motivates you to greater things. Honestly I was demoralized and embarrassed for several hours after the race. But now one day later I am recovered and willing to give it another go. I think I am in quite good shape, I ran a strong 19 miles last Sunday. But I have no speed and I weigh too much. I outweigh many of my competitors by 25-30 pounds..or more. And obviously weight is not helpful in any way in distance running. So no more Vanilla Creme Frapachino from Starbucks until I lose....

My first "win" in a while

2009-01-15T21:11:00.003+09:00

At my age 48, there are very few possibilities of winning a race outright anymore, but last weekend was the closest I will probably get. Last Monday, a national holiday in Japan, I ran an ekiden , (relay) with one of the clubs I train with, the Yodogawa Runners. This particular ekiden consisted of 5 legs of 3K. I ran the first leg. The great thing about this ekiden is that you only run against people in your age division. If I run against 20 or 30 years olds I have little chance of winning but against 40 year olds I have a slightly greater chance. It is quite fun and different from a usual race. Where usually at the start of a road race all the young pups bury me at the start, at this race I was in the lead for a little bit at the beginning. Anyway after my short time in the lead, 5 people moved ahead and I settled into 6th for the first half of my 3K leg. One thing I noticed when we were heading out, on this out and back course, was that the lead pack wasn't pulling away at all. They were maintaining a steady lead but it wasn't growing. After the turn around I saw one guy that I thought I could possibly catch, so I kept my eyes on him and tried to reduce the gap. With about a K to go I caught him and without realizing it I had caught the entire lead pack and passed them all within 100 meters. One of that group re-passed me but I gathered up strength again and passed him fast so he wouldn't consider trying again. I then coasted in and handed of the sash for my first "win" in many years. Our team went on to win the team title also.

Another couple of 80's

2008-12-19T20:49:00.002+09:00

Last week was another 80 mile week and this week I am on pace for 88. It is going fairly well. My legs don't feel particularly tired though my knees are a bit achy. The last two Wednesdays I have done 15k tempo runs in Osaka. Basically we run each kilo at around 4:25 in the beginning and then gradually speed up with the last 3k at "free" pace, however fast you want to go. The splits two weeks ago were 21:58, 21:45 and 20:41. Last week I started a little slower with 22:26,21:47 and finished with 20:39. I think with the combination of mileage and a hard tempo run once a week I will improve. I definitely feel stronger than before. I often ask myself what the point is in getting up at 5 in the morning to run in the dark every morning. It is a hard question to answer but the biggest reason is that running gives me something that I can't get anyway else. I like the feeling of strength that comes from running fast. I like the achievement that you feel when you place well in a race.

80 mile week

2008-12-10T12:05:00.002+09:00

I got my first 80 mile week in last week. It has been a while since I have been to that level in mileage. I feel like I am getting stronger and the morning 8.5's are getting easier. So hopefully I can consistently stay at this level. My goal is to run well in a couple of ekidens, one in January and one in February. I will also be in the US in February and would like to run a couple of races there.

Today I will go to Osaka to run with the Wednesday night group. I am looking forward to a hard run.

December

2008-12-02T15:16:00.003+09:00

Sunday - Nine mile loop down to Doshisha university and back up the back hill by trails. It was quite cold and windy but I did it.

Monday - am. 8.5 My new morning loop through the park. I am getting used to getting up at 5. It was hard at first but it is becoming easier. Of course running with the ipod also helps make the miles go faster.

pm 5 miles easy + 2 miles of sprint the straights jog the curves ---15 for the day.

Tuesday - am 8.5 park run. My knees were a little achy but ok.
pm. 3 miles on the treadmill plus weights.

More on training

2008-11-28T11:53:00.002+09:00

I returned to Osaka last Wednesday night to run with the club and it went quite well. It was quite cold and windy which made the run more challenging. My running partner, the only guy who shows up for this workout, Mr. Noguchi was there so we were ready to go. We ran 15K at about 4:25 for K which is about 7 minute pace. It was quite tough because of the cold and wind and maybe because I was a bit tired. I ran 5 that morning to get 15 miles for the day. Anyway I know that I wouldn't run that hard by myself so I am thankful that I have someone to push me.

This week on training has been a bit different. I have tried to lengthen my morning runs. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning I ran 8.5 in the morning and today I ran 7. It makes it easier to get in more miles for the day especially if I do a second run. I have been a little bit of a slacker in getting on the track and doing speed and I know I have to do that, if I want to get anywhere.

Running Clubs

2008-11-13T21:18:00.002+09:00

I have had several experiences with running clubs here in Osaka but haven't written about them because I didn't really want to criticize and I was afraid what I said would be misinterpreted. But since these experiences are a part of my life I will attempt to describe them.

One of the clubs I run with meets at Osaka castle park once a week. I had run with them for a couple of months last spring and it was generally a good experience. But one day when I was changing clothes behind the partition I heard the head of the club calling another member on his cell phone. His side of the conversation was as follows..in Japanese.."Help....that guy is here....the American..come run with us". The point of the conversation was to get this guy who was a fast runner to come run with us so I would have someone to run with. From my perspective I wasn't entirely happy to be referred to as that guy, that American, not by name but I have had worse experiences. The next week I showed up at the meeting place to find only the head of the club there. When we ran from the meeting place to the place we start the run he ran separately from me and when we got to the start he said for me to run by myself because I was too fast for him. It was a long trip from Hotani to Osakajo, 90 minutes, to run by myself so I decided to no longer go into town for this run.

Approximately six months later the head of the club called me and asked me to join them again. I decided to go because the quality of the workout is excellent. I arrived on time and greeted the head of the club. Another member a woman came in, She said, in Japanese, it's been a long time since she had seen me. I replied in Japanese, yes it has been. She laughed and said to the club leader, He spoke Japanese..haha. After returning from the workout I met another guy in the meeting room, He also said it has been a long time. I agreed and again the woman laughed at the fact that I spoke Japanese. I excused myself and started to walk back to the station with a quick stop at Mosburger for dinner. As I emerged from the fast food restaurant. I saw the head of the club with a woman in the club. They both looked at me, she laughed and they kept walking. No greeting, no offer to walk together. Remember this is the guy who a week before invited me to run with their club.

Socially it was a strange experience based on my cultural expectations/values. From my perceptions it seemed like they didn't want me there. But on the other hand they specifically invited me. I have lived here 16 years and i don't really understand how Japanese people think at all. I have certain beliefs, which I won't go into at the moment, but I am often in this kind of situation. Japanese are not often in your face rude but they will often just ignore me. There is another group I run with, in which I have been specifically invited several times. Often when I get there they will pretty much ignore me and of course laugh when I say anything in Japanese. I have found their behavior and my experinces to be incredibly consistent and predictable.

Regarding the workout...There is one guy in the group who is 60 years old but quite an amazing runner. He is very strong. We ran 15k totally with the first 12k at 4:30 per k pace and the last 3k at free pace..basically as fast as possible. It was a great workout/ That is why I keep going through the awkward experiences in running with this group.

40/40

2008-07-15T21:20:00.002+09:00

Today's workout was a 200 in 40 seconds followed by 40 seconds rest x 20. It went quite well. At the beginning the pace felt quite easy but as the workout progressed it got a bit tougher. But I stayed on pace the whole workout leaving at exactly 80 seconds every time. The last 10 minutes were run in a downpour with a thunder storm moving in quickly. I didn't want to re-schedule the workout so I was hoping I could finish it before the lightning got close and thankfully I did. I have been talking more to the track team members. They have decided that it is ok to talk to me. I have been running there for 6 years and this is the most interaction I have every had. It is kind of nice.

I talked to Dreux about a race schedule for this summer and we have decided to focus on track races. There are many all-comers meets in the Seattle area so it shouldn't be hard to find opportunities to race. Of course since they are not masters races I don' t think I will be very competitive but it hopefully will be fun.

More Training

2008-07-13T10:04:00.003+09:00

Friday - warmed up two miles with Tim. Then did 20 x a 100 meter hill...the hill that goes from the main road up to the track. It was kind of fun because I didn't have to worry about time and 20 seconds isn't that long to work hard. I could also focus more on form. It was hot but not as bad as usual. Dreux my coach advised me t watch the following clip of Sebastian Coe doing a similar workout.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FdPy_3AXTQ4&feature=related

Saturday - I ran an easy 3 miles with Loran. I was quite sore from yesterday so it was really a crawl. We ran early trying to beat the heat. I was so tired after the run that I went back to bed and slept till 11.

Sunday - We got up at 5:30 today to avoid the heat and humidity. We got out the door at 5:50. Loran was on her bike and I ran. The total run was 9.5 with a stop at McD's to pick up a breakfast set for both of us. We have run past McDonald's many times and promised each other that we would get breakfast there one day. It was a good run and was nice to have Loran on a bike next to me. It is like I am training with a fast runner. At the end of the run I was soaked with sweat and very happy to jump in a cold shower.

15 x 400

2008-07-10T09:47:00.002+09:00

I had a pretty good workout last night. It has been quite hot recently so running on the track has been a bit of a chore. Actually any running has been tough. Anyway I warmed up for an easy mile and went to the track. Usually when I run in the afternoon the track team is there and thankfully they were there last night. It makes it much easier to do a tough workout when you are not alone. The goal for the workout was 15 x 400 at 85. As usual my first was slow...90 but the 2nd was 84 and then the rest were between 84-86 until the last two. The 2nd to the last was 83 and the last was 79. I felt stronger than usual and the pain I have had in my right quad for a while was less noticeable. I brought a couple of bottles of Aquarius with me to keep hydrated and that seemed to help.

This morning the w/o was 60-75 minute hike. I did the farmers' road with Loran in about 70 minutes.

15 x 250

2008-07-07T08:43:00.002+09:00

When is a race not a race?

2008-01-21T20:26:00.000+09:00

This past week I heard that one of the groups I run with was going to to have a marathon on the weekend. In Japan marathon means anything from 3k to a ultra marathon and as I wanted to get a long run in I decided to contact them to find out the details. After Yoko, my friend, contacted them to get info for me, Gito-san called and gave me directions to the race. Actually he called me several times to make sure I understood exactly how to get there. I appreciated his kindness and his lack of nervousness about talking to a non-native speaker. Many people are quite shy/reserved about talking to "foreigners", but that is another story. Anyway..he was incredibly kind to me. He told me they would have a 5/10K and a half-marathon. I decided to run the half-marathon because I needed to do a long run on Sunday. A half marathon isn't really a long run, it is only 13.1 miles, I feel like it must be at least 14 to be a long run :) How is that for being obsessive compulsive...

So the next morning I got up early 5:30 and left the house at 6:30 to get there on time. After 1 bus ride, 1 train ride and a 15 minute walk, it took about 2 hours to get there, I arrived at the race site. It was on the banks of the Yodogawa river maybe the biggest river that runs through Osaka. This river is typical of many rivers in Japan. Picture a river, then a small bank, than a large flat area that stretches to another bank. On the flat area in most cities in Japan you will find baseball fields teaming with hundreds of young players every weekend. The riverbanks are basically parks. At the edge of the flat area the bank rises up again to a bicycle path that follows the river for the length of it.

I arrived there a bit late so after registration I had about 5 minutes to warm-up. I never had any really intention of racing the half-marathon so when people asked how fast I was going to run I said 1:40. Not fast but good workout pace. A couple of people said I should try for 1:20 or 1:30. I wasn't feeling very well. I had had a fever all week so I knew that I wasn't at my best. Anyway once the race started I knew I couldn't run it at training pace because if I did I would be in last place and it would be kind of embarrassing. So off we started with the first mile in 6:40. I knew I couldn't run that pace the whole way so I slowed down a bit and ran the next 9 miles at around 7 minute pace which to me felt like a lot of work. Unfortunately nobody was running that pace so I ran 95% of the race alone.

(I have to commend the organizers on their efficient use of space. As I said the race was along the river. It went out and back in one direction, past the starting point. Out and back in the other direction and then repeated itself. So we raced a half marathon in a relatively small piece of land without closing any roads.)

The last 3 miles were a bit of a struggle. I was freezing which is very unusual for me in a race so I started to cramp up a bit. Miles 11 and 12 were in about 7:20 and the last was about 7:00 for a final time of 1:34:00. This is not a particularly good time but considering I was sick the week before and I wasn't mentally prepared to race it was a good training effort.

After the race they had an awards ceremony where they gave out prizes and goods from sponsors. For my lowly 10th place I received a muffler and a pair of gloves. I think this is so much better than races in the US. When I was racing well, many moons ago, I won many trophies and ribbons which all went in some box to gather dust and rust. It is so much nicer to win something you can actually use. At Japanese races I have won so many cool things, when I do win. Rice, clothing, gift certificates...

Another thing I liked about this race was how old school it was. It is what I imagine races in the 60's and 70's used to be like. Small, informal and with a lot of serious runners. Anyway it was great fun.

Wednesday night workout

2008-01-18T16:51:00.000+09:00

Every Wednesday night for the past couple of months, I have been taking the bus/train/subway into Osaka to run with a group at Osaka castle. There are two reasons I am making this long trip every week. The first is that I need some running companionship. It is quite difficult to do my hard runs by myself and a group definitely raises the level of my training. The second reason is as an English teacher in Japan it is not easy to get opportunities to speak Japanese. My life revolves around English. When I teach I am speaking English and most of my colleagues are westerners so I don't speak Japanese very often except when I go into town to shop etc. Anyway this has been a great experience because I can combine a great training run with some contact with Japanese culture.

Anyway this past Wednesday was another tough workout. The plan was 12k at 4:30 per k pace with the last 3k as fast as desired. This week there were just three of us, myself and two guys I had never run with before. We started of with Akaishi san in the lead. He said he was out of shape and was going to run 5 min. pace but of course was bluffing and from the gun was running about 4:20's. I ran just off his shoulder the whole time but let him set the pace. It was quite inconsistent ...he would run steady and then he would push the pace for a while. I never felt like I was going to drop but I could tell he was pushing it. I don't know if he was actually trying to drop me but it felt like it. In this kind of run I fell obliged to stay with the group until the last 3K as per instructions. So if one of the other runners is surging I have to just keep up but I always feel like I can't surge back. I have to take it without responding. So we went on this way for a while surge, slow, surge, slow, when a little toy dachshund came running at me and brought me to a halt. I knew it wasn't going to bite me but I just didn't want to trip over it. Anyway by the time it lost interest the other two runners were way ahead. They didn't slow for a second. So after I caught up to them I decided since they didn't wait for me I had no great obligation to slow down and run with them so I just went by them. They made an attempt to stay with me for a bit but Mr. "Surge" dropped quite quickly and "runner X" tucked in behind me until the 3k to go mark. At that point he asked me if I wanted to speed up. Usually on the last leg we run quite hard and I am used to pulling away from whoever i am running with here. But when I increased the pace he just tucked in behind me. The last 3K I was pushing quite hard and the last 1.5 k was almost race pace but he stayed on my shoulder the whole time. I was definitely doing my best to drop him with no luck. As came to the end of the 12K I was totally dead but to my chagrin he said thanks for the run and turned around to do one more loop of the 3k course. When you run hard with someone you can definitely tell where you are in the hierarchy of the group. It was obvious at that point that he was the fitter person that day. But what a great run. I could never put in that kind of effort by myself.

Ekiden

2008-01-18T16:10:00.000+09:00

This past weekend after more than a year without a race, I ran an ekiden (relay) race in Osaka with a team I trained with once before. I didn't know the members very well but they invited me and I wanted to get a fitness check in, so Loran and I went. The course was located in North Osaka about an hour and a half from home so we had to get up early to get there.

When we arrived we met the other members of the team and I found that I would be on the men's masters team. I was going to run the first leg. This running club had 5 different teams, men's open, women' open, masters, etc.
I did a warm-up with a guy who I had run with before. It was quite fast just a notch or two below race pace. This guy is quite competitive. When we did a long run (30K) together before, he took the run out at a suicidal pace (for him) and ended up dying leaving me to run the last half alone. Anyway the warm-up was quite brisk but we ran the course together so it was quite useful.

The whole ekiden experience in Japan is kind of amazing. There were tons of people there 1000+ with all different lengths of ekidens going on at the same time. They had an ekiden for elementary school children where each child ran 1.5 K. The open men runners ran 4K each and the Masters men ran 3K each. All of these races were going on at the same time so it was an organizational puzzle but of course it came off perfectly with no screw-ups.

So when the Masters men started I was kind of amazed to look around at the start and see no one who looked that fast. Usually when I start I am surrounded by fast looking 20 olds who I know I have little chance of staying with, but when I surveyed the crowd I had a flash of hope. Anyway the gun went off and instead of getting blown away at the start I was with the leaders.
What a great feeling. It was like going back in time. I haven't gone out with the leaders in many years. Anyway soon we merged with other divisions running their legs so it was hard to see what place I was in. My splits were 3:49, 47, 41. 11:17 for 3k. It was a pretty pleasing race for me. The other exciting element was I was going back and forth with one guy over the last mile and in the end ended up out kicking him and two others. I feel as a Masters runner that I have the racing experience and kick of a 5 min pace runner (which I used to be) in the body of a six minute pace runner (which I am now).
The rest of my team ran well and we ended up getting 2nd in our division. I definitely enjoyed the racing experience and want to do it again soon.

Lost Blog

2008-01-13T19:45:00.000+09:00

It has been a long time since I posted for various reasons. It seemed like a great idea at first, a way to record what was happening in my life but as time went on the thrill became less and less. I felt like I was writing to someone without ever getting a reply. It felt like writing into a vacuum. The words go out but there is little response. But after many months of not writing anything I think it is something I should do for myself, not to get a response, but to record thoughts and experiences. I also I think that writing is good intellectual exercise.

Anyway I will make another attempt. So many things have happened since my last post. For the past six months I have been teaching at Tezukayama university in Nara part-time. The university I was at before has a five year limit. After 5 years you have to quit for at least six months and then they will hire you back at your beginning salary. Not a great deal of course but thankfully they liked what I had done over the past five years and waved the pay reduction and promoted me from assistant professor to associate professor. Actually that is as meaningful as the pay "raise" to me. I never liked the title "assistant professor". I don't feel like an assistant. So anyway I like the title "associate professor" better. I feel like I am almost a real professor now. Since I will never get a PhD this is probably the closest I will ever come to being a full professor.

It was fun to teach at a different school for a while. I just has two classes, two days a week. One was the highest level class in the program and the other was the lowest. The high class was a lot of fun. There were several Chinese students in the class which really helped the energy level and it also gave students more of a reason to use English because English was a common language between the Japanese and the Chinese. The low level class was more of a challenge. I usually teach 100% in English because I think it is much better for the students if I use only English and also it encourages them to use English with me if they think I can't speak Japanese. But this class was so low I had to use Japanese. But it really hurt the class because it erased any need on their part to use English in the class. But I got through the semester and I think the students had a good experience I consider it a success.

Great Run

2007-05-16T20:04:00.000+09:00

Sometimes the most rewarding runs are the long ones. Every Sunday I go from 14-16. They are fun because I can really explore and go new places and because they are often on trails. This time I started uphill to Kurondo ike and then did my big loop ending up in downtown Kyotanabe. I averaged 8:24 for the 15.1 miles with my last 3 miles under 8 min per mile. This was a new record for the course and was really a confidence booster.

Hill workout - I had another great run today. I have a 7 mile loop where I work every hill hard. Short hills I run at 1500 pace, medium at 5k pace and long hills at marathon pace.. I felt strong and worked hard so I consider that the mark of a successful training run. After 4 days I have about 45 miles for the week.

Hotani Scenes

2007-05-09T22:05:00.000+09:00

The continuing saga

2007-05-09T21:30:00.000+09:00

It has been ages since my last update. The biggest news has been no news. I have been applying for teaching jobs in the US. I applied to about 7 different colleges and so far have received two direct no's, for one the funding was cut for the position, one interview and several non-responses. I will go for an interview around the 1st of June in Bremerton. The school will pick up part of the cost of the ticket so I am assuming they are interested in hiring me.

Running is quite sporadic at the moment. When I was in the US for spring vacation I lost a lot of fitness because I was focusing on finding a job. I have gained most of it back in the past few weeks and feel back to previous fitness. I run every morning with Loran and have been running most of the time in the afternoon with other teachers here. There are three other teachers who run with me most days. It actually helps quite a bit to have someone to run with. We don't run particularly fast but it is great to have the company. Yesterday I did a workout where I ran all the uphills hard. It made the run go much faster and was challenging. I haven't given up on my goals in running but I am focusing more on the important thing at the moment...getting a job.

Update

2007-01-16T18:57:00.000+09:00

Not so much is new. In the running world I am just putting in more miles. I did 73 laast week but pulled my hamstring on my run Saturday. I was almost finished a six mile run and I felt a sharp twinge in the muscle up near the butt. It was quite sharp and actaully stopped me. Thankfully I was at the end of the run so I just walked it in. I took Sunday off and then did 5 am and 5 pm on Monday. I just ran an easy 5 today. I will run conservatively until I feel stronger. I am also doing some strengthening work to hopefully get it back to normal.

School is almost finished. We have the rest of this week and then next week which is finals week. I will be glad to wrap things up for a while. I have one more semester here and then my five year contract is up. I have started looking for a new job which always makes me start to reflect. It has been an interesting 5 years here. In a way it hass gone very quickly. What have I accomplished? I got out of debt and saved quite a bit of money. That is always good. I think I have taught well. I put a lot of effort into my classes and students. When I leave someplace I always think, Have I had an impact? Have I actually done anything of value? When I started teaching it was because I wanted to do something positive, help people, make the world better and all of those idealistic reasons. Now after many years of teaching those are still my reasons for teaching but I often wonder am I doing anything. Am I doing anything more than entertaining them for 5 months? Sometimes it is hard to tell. Every once in a while a student will say something that makes me think it is worth it, but there are times when there are long gaps between those comments. I hope I am not wasting my life. I hope I am doing important things that I am not aware of...

More training

2006-12-07T18:32:00.000+09:00

Two more weeks of school until vacation. We have about 3 weeks of winter vacation, we go back to school for 3 weeks and then vacation for a couple of months. I will miss this schedule when I return to the US.

I am back to regular training. I ran 63 last week and am on schedule for about 70 this week. The highlight of this was a 5 mile tempo in 34:25 after going out the first mile in 7:05. I gradually picked it up and felt pretty strong until the finish. I then did a couple of stride/200's. I strided the first 100 and then sprinted the last 100. They felt quite good. My hamstring is healing up I think. I have been icing twice a day and it seems to have helped.

I am trying to do more upper body work these days. Most runners are quite one dimensional in their fitness so I would like to be a little more well rounded. I am doing pushups, situps etc.

Last weekend I did a live webcast/commentary of the Fukuoka marathon. I watched it on my TV and then give updates on the message board of letsrun.com.

Current training

2006-11-30T22:18:00.000+09:00

After my last race I took two weeks off with just 5 miles a day. It was nice to have a bit of a break to regenerate my enthusiasm for the sport and get hungry again. I am definitely ready to go again. I emailed my coach, Tinman, and we have informally decided on running in the 17's for 5K next season. I think that would be a respectable time so I will do my best to get there. I have trained well since last April so it will be a year's worth of good training soon. This week I am back up to ten miles a day. My hamstring is a little tight but I am feeling pretty good and hoping to put a good base in this winter.

The last race

2006-11-30T21:57:00.000+09:00

Well my fall season is over. I ran my last race of the season in Hirakata city which is just 45 minutes away from my home by bus. All the previous races I have been to this year entailed overnight stays so it was nice to go to a closer one. The course was along a river bed so I was looking forward to a semi-fast race. It was quite cold and a bit windy so my warm-up was shortened. I probably ran a half mile so I was a bit stiff at the start. My hamstrings were tight but I managed to push through it and relax as much as possible. The first mile went pretty smoothly 6:12. It felt pretty easy so I picked it up a bit and started catching a few people. At the turn araound I was running well and hit 2 miles in 12:19 for a 6:07 2nd mile. The last mile I ran as hard as I could, knowing that it was the last race of the season so I wanted to give it my all. From the turnaround point there was a guy behind me who was making the most disgusting noises. He sounded like he was half-way between having a heart attack and vomitting. It was making me nauseous to listen to him, so that was a big motivation to get away from him and out of earshot. In the last half mile I saw a guy ahead of me with the worst form. His arm was flailing around and he looked quite awkward. I just couldn't face losing to someone who looked that bad. Well, I guess I have to face it because I couldn't catch him by the finish. So that is how far I have fallen in my running. I used to strategize how to win local road races. Now I struggle to stay ahead of grotesque noise makers or to beat people whose form does not measure up to a level I have set. :) Anyway I ran the last mile in 6:03 and finished in 19:05. This is a post 40 personal record so i consider it a success.

Fun Run?

2006-11-09T21:39:00.000+09:00

This past weekend I was down in Kita-Kyushu for a teaching conference. I got an email announcing a fun run on Saturday morning so I decided to participate. When I got there there were about 12 people waiting and only a couple of them looked like runners. The director explained that a young Japanese girl was going to be leading the race because she was the fastest one there. I thought it was possible because there are some very fast Japanese women. But since she didn't even take off her sweats I thought she was being a little presumptuous to think she could stay ahead of all of us even wearing full sweats.
I wan't really sure what this event was. Was it a group run or a race? But when the director announced that there would be prizes for the first and second runners I decided there was some competitive element to it. When the race started two guys, a hippie girl and I moved to the front. The Japanese runner who was supposed to lead the race never was near the lead. Thankfully the race director was leading the race on his bike so we just followed him. The four of us ran together with the director giving us a historical tour of the area as we ran along. We chatted the first half and all stayed together. As we passed the castle a young American guy broke away and put a small gap on us. I figured that was the first indication that we were in a race so I got the Australian guy who was running with me to join me in the pursuit. We caught him pretty quickly and since I was in the lead I decided to try to break away. I got a big gap but unfortunately we had to stop at all lights so every time I got a lead I had to wait at lights and let them catch up. After doing that a couple of times I decided to rejoin the group. With about a half mile to go the Australian man tried to break away and got a big lead in a short distance. Fortunately he too was stopped at the light. I caught up with him and as soon as the light changed I sprinted for all I was worth and managed to win the race though I had to cross the last road as the light was changing. It was kind of a fun event. It was like pretend racing. I am sure that I won't have many more chances in my life to lead a race so I definitely relished the experience.

Race #2

2006-10-27T21:12:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-20T21:59:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-16T21:26:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-16T20:52:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-10T20:49:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-10T20:36:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-08T22:55:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-08T22:31:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-08T22:26:00.000+09:00

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

Teaching

2006-09-20T21:55:00.000+09:00

Classes started this week, and as usual with new classes they take a lot of energy. My junior college classes are part 2 of year long courses, so I know the students. My other three classes are in the university and are oral communication classes. The students are freshman so they are kind of a handful. It always takes a while to train them in the ways of an English class

My biggest impression so far is that I am amazed at how low they are in level. It is hard to tell that they have ever had a university level English class before. They have a hard time following directions in English and of course they are always speaking to each other in Japanese. That might seem natural since they are Japanese, but at this level, after six years of English, they should be able to function in a English class. I have an only English policy in my classes which is difficult for them, but they improve so much faster if they speak only English. So it always takes a lot of effort on my part to break them of their habit of speaking Japanese to each other. But the effort is worth it because they progress so much fast when they switch totally to English.

Last weeks training

2006-09-17T21:01:00.000+09:00

Sunday 15. 3 in Sendai

Monday - 0 Traveling in Tokyo

Tuesday 8.6 around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo

Wednesday am 5.45
pm 10- 3 mile tempo, 4 x 1000 and 4 x 200. Ran in torrential downpour on the track in the dark.

Thursday am 5.05
pm 5.45

Friday am 5.55
pm 10.65 incl 3 x 10 minutes and 3 x 30 sec.

Saturday - 5.24

Total 70.75

Sendai scenes

2006-09-15T23:05:00.000+09:00

Week ending September 16th

2006-09-15T22:59:00.000+09:00

This was a good week. I got two hard workouts in. Wednesday I did the same workout as last week, 3 mile tempo, 4 x 1K and 4 x 200. This week I did it in the dark and pouring rain so it was a little more difficult. But I did it so I felt a sense of accomplishment. The other hard workout was 3 x 10 minute and 3 x 30 seconds in the middle of a 10 mile run. It felt good and smooth. Two weeks until my first race on October 1st. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of shape I am in. I registered for two more 5k's so that will be my fall season. I hope to pr of course.

An off week

2006-09-15T22:49:00.001+09:00

I went up north to Sendai last week. I spent a lot of time with old friends so I missed a couple of runs. I finished with 52 miles which is not very good but it could have been worse. Highlights of the week were a workout on the track at Miyaginohara. It was kind of a long workout. 2 miles w/u 3 miles tempo at 7:10 pace. 4 x 1000 at 4:00 pace and then 4 x 200 at 40 sec. It is not so fast but quite long. That is almost 7 miles on the track. The other interesting thing about the workout was the other people on the track. It is a community track so anyone can use it. There were junior high, high school and professional runners all using it at once. The professionals, a womens team looked so good. It is kind of fun to watch really talented runners. They looked so smooth and fast. I was jealous.
I also ran from my hotel out to the ocean along the river. It is a course I used to run all the time when I lived in Sendai. It was about 15 miles.
Other interesting parts of Sendai, seeing old friends, Hide and Toshi. Toshi has become a part-time actor and has done many commercials and some TV dramas. I went to Hide's house, had dinner and watched a video tape of Toshi's performances. Anyway it was nice t return to my home in Japan and see old friends.

August 27th- Sept. 2nd

2006-09-02T21:05:00.000+09:00

Summary of last weeks training

Sunday - 16 miles. easy pace. Left at 5:00am

Monday
am - 5 easy

Tuesday
am- 5.1
pm - 10 - last 3 pushed though I felt like crap. It was so humid. I will be glad when I am not soaked at the end of the run

Wednesday
am 5.1
pm -4

Thursday
am - 5
pm- 10 flat bike path around park felt ok

Friday
pm- 6 with Loran. It is getting cooler.

Saturday
am-7 with Loran

Total 73

77 miles

2006-08-27T20:24:00.000+09:00

Training is going pretty well. I feel that I am adjusting to the higher mileage. 77 miles last week. That is a new record for me as a masters, over 40 runner. My record in my 20's was about 110. Maybe this winter I will go that high again. Today my long run went well. 16 miles. It felt pretty comfortable. It was a bit cooler than usual because there was a big rainstorm last night. I am doing the same loop every Sunday. Honestly it is getting a bit boring. It is a great loop to run, mostly country roads but doing the same loop every week is getting a little tedious. I am thinking of getting an ipod shuffle to listen to on the run. This is a bit blasphemous (sp?) because in my day, serious runners wouldn't use that kind of contraption. But I guess in my day they didn't really have them either.

Dogs

2006-08-23T16:58:00.000+09:00

Last night's run was a little more exciting than usual. I was doing a 10 mile push run. The first 6 went well. I was running around 8 minute pace and I started to increase the tempo to about 7:20's . It was quite hard by that point and as I ran past a factory I saw four dogs come out the front gate in a mad sprint after me. Knowing that the flight option wouldn't be successful I decided to fight. The usual procedure in this case is to bend down like you are picking up a rock and then pretend, or actually, throw the rock. Since I was in the middle of the road and there were no rocks handy, I bluffed and combined the fake throw with some of my strongest swearing. Thank God they could see me because that was enough to send them retreating. The lead dog made one more charge but another fake throw sent him back to his pals. This method of dealing with dogs is internationally accepted by dogs of all nationalities. I have used it in the US many times and it always works. Some people might say I should have tried to befriend them or some other less agressive technique. I have found that packs of dogs or even single dogs that are in a chasing mood don't particularly want to be friends and really I didn't want to waste the time on negotiations. So even with two stops to defend myself i ran 7:30 for that mile and finally 7:20 for the last. Definitley a good run.

Another good week

2006-08-23T16:44:00.000+09:00

Last week went pretty well, 76 miles. If anybody is reading this, it must be boring. Kind of like my running, not terribly exciting, just something I have to do. I am not particularly sure why I do it at times. Two hours a day, exhausted a lot of the time. Going upstairs and downstairs is painful. For what? For a ribbon or plaque every few months? I do it because I want to be good at something. I want to be better than average. Of course there are other things I am good at but they are not they same. Nobody claps after I teach a good class.

Most of the time I run so slowly. I run slowly because my legs are always dead. Always tired.. Once or twice a week I manage to run at a decent pace but then for the next couple of days I am crawling.

Kinkakuji

2006-08-23T16:34:00.000+09:00

Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavillion, is one of my favorite temples in Kyoto. We very conveniently live equadistantly between Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka. It is about an hour from our apartment to each of these cities. Last week we went to Kinkakuji which was quite beautiful and then we went to the Ritsumeikan University Museum of Peace.. It had a very balanced view of WWII which is quite unique in Japan. Japan generally has a victim mentality in regards to the war. Most Japanese see it as something that happened to them without much sense of national responsibilty. Anyway the museum was quite interesting.

Another week.

2006-08-15T08:10:00.000+09:00

I had another good Sunday run. As usual I got up at 4, watched TV for an hour to let my body wake up and ran at 5. I was amazed that I could run because I only slept for 2-3 hours that night. I think I had too much cafeine (sp?) for dinner so I couldn't go to sleep until around 1:00 am. Anyway I got out the door on time and concentrated on running relaxed for the whole run. I didn't want to race it or compare it to the previous week. One of the problems with having the Garmin is that it is very easy to compare runs and of course want to run faster each time. So I just tried to run relaxed the entire run without really pushing it. I was also afraid I was going to crash because of lack of sleep but thankfully I didn't. I also added on a bit to bring it up to 16 miles. I want to stay at that distance for a while.

Another 70

2006-08-12T09:52:00.000+09:00

Just finished another week of 70 miles. It is my second. I definitely could feel the effect of last week. I was exhausted most of the week especially in the morning runs. They were so slow. I was just crawling the entire run. Part of it was the effect of last week and part of it was because I haven't been sleeping enouugh. I can't run 70 miles of 6 hours of sleep a night. I have to change that aspect of my lifestyle. Also my 80 minute runs were quite tough especially at the end. Hopefully I will get used to the increased mileage and gradually speed up.

A good week

2006-08-08T22:32:00.000+09:00

Last week went well. I got 75 miles in, which is a record for me after age 30. It wasn't particularly difficult though I felt like I was running all the time. That is the problem with training at the speed I train at now. I used to be able to do five miles easily in 40 minutes, now I am taking 45-or 50 to cover the same distance. That's ok because I think the times will eventually come down over time.

effortless

2006-08-03T22:41:00.000+09:00

This week has gone pretty well so far. The plan is MWF 5 am, 5 pm. Tuesday, Thursday am 5, pm 80 minutes. So far I am on schedule. This morning I was totally dead. We were going so slow so I decided to bag it at three miles. This afternoon the 80 minute run went really well. It was one of those semi-magical runs that come along every once in a while when you run effortlessly. It didn't last for the whole run but there were sections that felt great. It is the way I remember running used to be. Anyway it was a great feeling.

I found a new loop that is mostly country roads with some great climbs. I love discovering new courses.

I have run 59.5 in 5 days. I will probably run 10 tomorrow and 5 Saturday for about 75. I hope to stay at that level for a while

This month's training

2006-07-31T21:53:00.000+09:00

Got up at 5:30, out the door at six for a 5.2 mile run. If I leave at that time I can beat the heat and get a decent run in. I did another 5.3 in the afternoon. From this week I hope to increase the miles. I am concentrating on running slow and easy so I can handle the increase. After dinner tonight I went upstairs, filled a garbage can with ice water and iced my legs for about 20 minutes. I want to do this every day at least once.

I got this month's workouts from Tinman. Basically it will be a no-speed month with only strides a few times a week. The basic workouts are 4 x 1 hour, 80 minutes x 2 with 20-30 minutes at marathon pace, and a long run. It will be nice to get off the track a bit because it is brutal to be on the track this time of year because of the heat.

If anybody is reading this and has any questions...I would be glad to answer.

Long Run

2006-07-30T13:17:00.000+09:00

It has been so hot and humid recently. The heat can reduce me to a crawl on a five mile run so I decided to get up early for my Sunday long run to beat the heat. Unfortunately I was up late till 12 last night on the phone but managed to get up at 4:00, an hour before my run. I need to get up that much before I run to give my body some time to wake up before I hit the road. I left at five o'clock and ran 15.2 finishing in 2:23. I can tell that I am getting stronger. The pace at which I can run relaxed is much faster than it used to be. My splits were: (thanks to Garmin)

1- 12:40
2 - 10:51 the first two miles are uphill
3 - 9:37
4 - 9:26
5 - 9:01
6 - 9:12
7 - 9:32
8 - 9:14
9 - 8:56
10 - 8:52
11 - 8:36
12 - 10:20
13 - 8:37
14 - 8:47
15 - 8:10
Total 2:23

Average pace 9:27

For me this is a big improvement. I am trying not to push this workout too much, just run it relaxed. So getting up early worked. I beat the heat and was finished before it really started to get hot so I consider it a major success.

First week

2006-07-28T11:23:00.000+09:00

This is the first week in the second stage of training. Sunday was good, about 16 but Monday and Tuesday were bad, 6 and 5. Obviously I can't really have too many "off days and still run 70 or 80 miles. Wednesday I did a morning run of 4.75 and then intervals in the afternoon. 3 warm up, a 3 mile tempo run at 7:20 pace and then 8 x 200. It was hard to run exactly 44's, the goal time. I was either too fast or slow. The second to last was 39 so I decided to see how fast I could go for one. I ran 34++. It felt quite good but a little out of control, not very coordinated. I would love to be able to run 30 again. I haven't run that fast in many years but it would be nice to run as fast as I did 20 years ago. I will probably get 60+ in this week. I need to increase dedication and even the length of my easy runs. Next week 70+ for sure.

The compound

2006-07-24T20:57:00.000+09:00

I haven't really written much about living in Japan for many reasons, but one of them is that I have lived here so long that everything seems normal to me. But anyway I will try to tackle the subject more often.

Anyway it could be argued that I don't live in Japan. I live in an apartment complex of foreigners, mostly westerners which is situated on the university campus. We don't really have any Japanese neighbors so it is very easy to go for long periods of time without really speaking to any Japanese other than out students or staff at the university.

Of course this is terrrible for my Japanese language skills. When I was teaching high school in Sendai I would hear and speak Japanese every day but now the only time I use it is when I ask directions when I am running, or for one 90 minute period every 6 weeks when I get my haircut. I have to make more of an effort to get out and use the language but it hasn't really happened.

When I got this job and heard this would be the living situation I didn't want to take the job. I knew that when you get a group of people together who are naturally isolated from the main society, Japan, they can be incredibly nasty. The thought of living with the people I work with turned my stomach. Luckily it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. It is pretty easy to live your own life and choose how much you mix or don't. The other teachers here have been quite nice and respectful of other peoples space, so it has been a pleasant surprise.

Vacation is over

2006-07-24T20:48:00.000+09:00

I just finished a week of recovery. I ran 38 miles last week to give my body some time to recover and in hope that the sharp pain in my shins would go away. It was a good week to take off because it was the worst week --weather wise -- that I have experienced here. It was pouring all week at torrential strength. Of course I can run in the rain but I must admit it is not my favorite thing to do. Anyway I feel refreshed but the pain in my shins remains. I bought a garbage can from the hardware store to fill with ice water so I can dunk my legs in the ice water after I run. I have read a lot about the value of icing so hopefully it will keep me healthy through the next phase of training.

I had a great long run yesterday. I ran 15 + through the countryside ending up in Shintanabe. It was a great course and I was running faster than usual at the same effort. The last couple miles of my run I was in the high 7's which is pretty good for me. I am definitely feeling stronger.

2006-07-17T18:05:00.000+09:00

another 62

2006-07-17T17:30:00.000+09:00

62 more miles this week. Obviously training to be a better runner isn't a terribly glamorous thing. 90% of it is by yourself, there is no one applauding you, there are no cheerleaders jumping up and down as you finish your workout. It is just week after week of semi-monotonous training with the hope that it will all pay off. The amazing thing is you could put all that training in and actually not improve. Or you could train like a madman, be at the peak of your fitness and then before the big race get injured and all the training would be for naught. My favorite anology for training (me 2004) is of pouring water into a bucket with a small hole in the bottom. If you pour in a lot of water your fitness increases but it you stop pouring it will all leak away. If you pour in less than is going out you will also lose fitness. So you are always trying to make sure more is going in than is leaking out. That is why I am training at the level I am now. I trained for three years in my 40's and each year in March I ran around 19:50 for 5k. All that work for a 19:50 5k. I was just breaking even in my "fitness bucket" If I am going to train hard I want to see some real improvement.

This week both of my track workouts went well. I did my tempo run on Tuesday but skipped the 200's because of sore shins. I did the 1000/600 workout on Thursday and it felt pretty quick.My shins have been aching quite a bit recently so I have decided to take next week "off" I will just run once a day with no speedwork. Just easy running. I figure the shin problem is either shin splints which is a very common injury or the first signs of a stress fracture. I am hoping it is shin splints which can be cured by icing and rest..

For the past couple of months I have been searching for the perfect long run course. I think I found it this past Sunday. It is about 15 miles, mostly on country roads. I see a lot of bicycle racers on that course so it seems to be a popular route. It is quite beautiful through mountain valleys, traditonal Japanese villages and past rice fields. There are some amazing places to run here. I think that is one of the best things about living in Japan, the scenery and the ordinary things that become extraordinary because they are here.

Another one bites the dust

2006-07-08T18:55:00.000+09:00

Another week down. 64 more miles. As I said before, a couple more weeks of 60's then up to the 70-80 range. It was a good week of training. I did a 3 mile tempo on Tuesday with 8x 200 afterwards. The 200's felt great. I love the feeling of acceleration through the curve and then running strong down the straight. It is nice to feel relatively fast. On Wednesday I had an interesting 8 miler. I ran up toward the lake and took a road that I have been curious about for a long time. It led to a development of very expensive-looking houses. There were some log cabin style houses and it looked a bit like the US. At the end of the development there was a trailhead which led to a whole network of trails that are around Lake Kurondo. It is amazing how many trails there are in this area. The only problem is that this time of year the trails tend to grow over and are covered with spider webs all through the summer. My first year here I tried to ignore them but I was coming back from runs with shockingly big red marks all over my body. So I decided to concede the trails to the spiders for the summer and wait for the first big frost to kill them off. Thursday's workout was 1000 at cruise interval pace 200 rest and then a 600 at maximum aerobic pace x 2. It was an interesting workout and the fast part actually felt better than the slow part One of the interesting things about my coach's workouts is that they are at a variety of paces. When I ran in college everything was all out, as fast as you could go for that distance. The workouts I am doing now seem to make much more sense. It has been a great help to work with "Tinman" It makes me accountable and feel like I am not running in a vacuum.

Reflections

2006-07-03T21:54:00.000+09:00

Those are the days you look back on 20 years later and wish you could go back to. Memorable people and faces that will stay with you in your memories and that will come back to you in your dreams years later.
When I was 21 and had dreams of becoming a serious runner I started running at Pt. Defiance with a group of older runners. Every Sunday morning a group of 15-20 of the top runners in the Tacoma area would gather in the parking lot in Pt Defiance park to rip through 3 loops of the hilly 5 mile trail circuit.
The who’s who of the local running world would show up every Sunday. Sometimes an out of town celebrity would join us. Once it was Pat Tyson. Once it was a 13:?? minute 5K runner from Stanford. Even the legendary Steve Prefontaine ran there back in the days. But the core of the group was the local runners who I looked up to. There was John S. The Boeing employee who was the father figure that we all looked up to. He was tough and cool like most of us certainly weren’t. There was the local hero Leon. He was the runner we all wanted to be. Long black hair with a never tiring stride, winner of everything winnable in the area, a runner with so much potential. Mike the playboy, who entertained us with his tails of conquest at a time when I understood about 50% of what he was saying. Ernie the Coca Cola dealer, Gerry the teacher, Larry the Viet Nam vet all of whom I looked up to. They were the people that taught me what it was to be a man, to be an adult and that getting older wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The pace would always start slow but gradually it would pick up until I was struggling just to hang with the group. Each week I would get dropped but slowly the length of time I could stay with them was longer. After many months of getting left behind each week, I was finally able to stay with them. I still remember the feeling of sprinting through the trails, running as hard as I could and feeling the power in my body. It is a feeling I still hope for, a feeling of power that made it all worth it
I look back on those days 25 years ago as one of the best periods of my life. I was poor, had a indefinite future but I had the comraderie and connection to friends, something that never happened with the same intensity or quality.

Overview

2006-07-03T21:23:00.000+09:00

It has been about two months since started this project. The past 8 weeks

1 - 61.4
2 - 68
3 - 70
4 - 36.9
5 - 60.9
6 - 63.5
7 - 63.6
8 - 64. 15

A typical week

Sunday 16
Monday - am 6
Tuesday am 5.25
pm 3 mile tempo 8 x 200 = 6
Wednesday am 3
pm - 5
Thursday - am 5
pm 4 x 1000 cutdowns starting at 4:10 to 3:39 - 5
Friday -am 5
pm -5
Saturday 6

So I would say I am satified with how things are going but it is time to move up another notch in the level of difficulty.

Another link

2006-07-03T21:09:00.000+09:00

Each week is another link in the chain of weeks and months and years it takes to be successful. This past week I got 64 miles in with the same speed workouts as last week. It was a little harder this week because it has finally started to get hot. Rainy season is almost over and it seeems like the long hot summer is about to start. The Osaka area is one of the hottest and most humid parts of Japan. It can be very oppressive in the summer and I am hoping the real heat is slow in coming this year. I have been trying to bump up the mileage to the 70's for the past couple of weeks but it hasn't happened. It takes another jump in the level of commitment and it means I can't miss any runs. Whatever happens, storms, fatigue, sickness, laziness I can't miss a run. It will be easier after school finishes in a few weeks but I wouold like to get up to the 70's before then and hopefully into the 80's through vacation.

Breakthrough

2006-06-22T20:42:00.000+09:00

On Wednesday I had a normal slow morning run. We run every morning together, Loran and I, at about 6:30. It is tough to get out the door at times but we always do it. The runs are quite slow, mostly because of me. I am usually so sore and tired in the morning
In the afternoon I made another attempt at the speedwork that I was supposed to do yesterday. In my warmup I felt the same, totally dead. But I decided to do the workout anyway. The workout was 4 x 1000, each one progressively faster. I was supposed to start at 4:10 and work down from there. The first one I ran 4:11, the next was3:56, the third was 3:45 and the last was 3:36. I felt quick and smooth for the first time in a long while. 3:36 is a respectable time for me for 1K so I am feeling more confident. I wrote to my coach Tinman, about the workout and he says that I "have arrived" . I am not sure about that, but I know I am headed in the right direction and am progessing nicely. Of course I owe a great deal to him. I couldn't have done it alone.
If I can get another two months of this kind of training in, I will be very fit for the fall. I so much want to run fast again. It is such a powerful feeling to run fast and to win. I don't really have to many more chances to actually win races at my age, 45, but I want to be fit enough to take advantage of the situation if the chance arises. I would hate to be in a race that is won in 17 minutes and not win it

Dead legs

2006-06-22T20:30:00.000+09:00

Sunday was one of those runs that starts out bad and gets worse. From the beginning I felt slow and though I didn't slow down that much I never really warmed up. It was a 16.75 mile crawl. I took me 3:45 an incredibly slow time. The only reason I admit to it in public is that hopefully months from now I will be able to look back on it and laugh. I have lots of excuses, general fatigue, hills and humidity, but in reality it was a very painful, unpleasant run full of unmentionable chafing so I will spare my readers the gory details. At least I did it and am ahead of 70 mile pace for the week.
Monday I felt surpprisingly good. My legs weren't as tired as I thought they would be. It was a easy day of 3 and 4 miles.
Tuesday I did an easy 4 in the morning but in the afternoon I tried to do speedwork. When I started my warmup I was totally deadlegged. I crawled about half a mile and then started walking. I haven't felt that bad in a long time. I walked home and called it a day.

another week

2006-06-17T18:38:00.000+09:00

I have finished one more week, 63 miles. Not perfect but not so bad. I missed a couple of runs but got in two good speed sessions and a long run, I'll take it. Next week I want to defintely get a solid 70. My speed session went well on Friday. I ran 3 miles at tempo pace. 1 minute per mile over race pace. Race pace is 6:20 so tempo pace is 7:20. It felt pretty easy but it was still work. I followed this with 8 x 200. I just tried to run relaxed and smooth. I started at 40 and finishes at around 38's. It felt great to run "fast". I would like to run that tempo more often.

Rainy days and Thursdays

2006-06-15T21:49:00.000+09:00

Today was an ordinary day of training. 4.1 in the morning in the drizzle. Work all day and 6.1 in the evening for 10.2 for the day. An easy day. I tried to run slow and easy both runs so I will be rested for tomorrow's runs. Tomorrow's plan is 4 in the morning and a 3 mile tempo + 8x 200 in the afternoon.
In my soft running years, the years when I ran enough to call myself a runner but not seriously enough to run fast I would always avoid running in the rain. It seems whenever I ran in the rain I would get sick. But when you are trying to average 70 a week you can't miss many runs because of rain. I have relearned that running in the rain is not so bad if you are dressed for it. The first 10 minutes are a bit uncomfortable but soon you can't even feel it.
This is the official rainy season in Japan. When I first came to Japan many years ago many people warned me about the rainy season and how miserable it was. I had all of these expectations of monsoons but was pleasantly surprised that rainy season in Japan means it usually rains during the day, but not all day and not so hard usually. And it only lasts a month or so. Growing up in Washington State made Japan's rainy season seem like a piece of cake. In Washington it can rain consistently through the whole winter with out much letup. So for the next month or so I will have to get used to being wet.

fatigue

2006-06-15T20:49:00.000+09:00

Today Wednesday, I ran 4.1 this morning and did a speed workout this afternoon. I did 2 w/u and 4 x 1k with each getting progressively faster starting at 4:10 and working down to 3:43. It was a tough workout but not so difficult. The track team was on the track too so it was nice to have company. I warmed down two miles and ran into the volleyball team on the road near the track. They are preparing for a 24 hour relay and have asked me to run with them. I am not so excited about doing it but I have never done one before so it might be interesting. Recently I have been so tired from the mileage I am running. Running higher mileage makes me incredibly, deeply tired. When I sleep it is like the dead. It is kind of a nostalgic feeling. I haven't felt this way in many years. It is a satisfying feeling. After four days I have run 37 miles. I need 33 miles in 3 days to get 70 this week.

Teaching

2006-06-11T18:02:00.000+09:00

I haven't really written much about teaching so I will talk a bit about how things are going. I know several weeks ago I was complaining about some aspect of teaching. It is sometimes a pain to go through the process of retraining students to be productive as students and in the classroom. There are many things they have to learn for example to stay in English, how to do homework, what is appropriate classroom behavior etc. I guess after teaching so many years I get tired about going though the process again and again.
Things have basically turned around in my classes. I would say they are all going well, students are working well together and the dynamic is good.

Update

2006-06-11T17:30:00.000+09:00

The last two weeks have had their ups and downs. Two weeks ago I ran about 36 miles because I was sick for a few days with a fever and sore throat. Last week I bounced back with 60 so I feel like I am back on track. Today, Sunday I went for my long run. The plan was for 15 but it turned into 17.3 as I made a wrong turn on one trail. I did my Kurondo ike loop. The only point of interest was when I was on the trails I came up behind a group of senior hikers. On Sundays the trails are usually full of larger groups of elderly hikers so it can be a bit difficult to get past them sometimes. So as I started to weave my way through one group, I noticed an elderly gentleman had decided to join me on the run. We chatted a bit and he helped me navigate and get people to move to the side of the trail as we came by. As we reached the front of the group he dropped off, not literally, and I resumed the run on my own. But at that point I also discovered I had taken a wrong turn and make my run a little longer than I wanted it to be. I knew it was going to be a long run so I just tried to run relaxed and run steady pace the whole way. It is the farthest I have run in quite a while so I am happy about my progress.

More Training

2006-05-31T21:27:00.000+09:00

I got my 70 in last week. I had to run .06 Saturday night because i found I was short of 70 after my morning run on Saturday. It is a little obsessive I admit but you have to be obsessive to get out the door every day when you are exhausted.
Sunday I had a good long run, 15 miles. Five miles to the river, 2.5 out and back along the Kizu river and five miles home. It was quite windy so I was going through allergy hell for a couple of hours after the run.
Tuesday night - intervals. Goal 3 x 1 mile at 6:20. The first rep I was on pace at 3/4 and pushed on the last lap to hit my goal. I ended up running 6:13. The same thing happened on the 2nd 6:13. I was feeling good and hadn't run under 6 for a mile in years so I decided to give it a try.
400, 90...800, 3:00. 1200- 4:30 and "kicked" it in for a 5:56. Not amazing but satisfying. It is a good step toward my goals.

Bosozoku

2006-05-31T21:12:00.000+09:00

This past Saturday night we were woken up by Bosozoku. Bosozoku are young motorcyle gang members. Literally Bosozuku literally means "Speed Tribes" There are many young Japanese who don't fit into traditional Japanese society. One of these groups of outsiders ride around the highways of Japan, with mufferless obnoxiously loud vehicles.

If you want to hear what we hear every Saturday night go the the link below.

http://www.bosozoku.de/

track workouts

2006-05-25T21:40:00.000+09:00

This week in running has gone fairly well. It is Thurday and I have 52 miles in five days which is on pace for 70. I did track work yesterday 4 x 1200 with a goal of 4:45 which is race pace. I ran 4:45, 45, 40, 40. Of course this is not fast but it was my goal so I am satisfied. I am just trying to run smart and think of long term goals. Tomorrow I am supposed to run 6 x 1000 at 4:10 pace. Running on the track always makes me nervous. I am not sure exactly why, part of it is I question whether I can hit the goal times. The other part is I know it will be painful and it will take a lot of effort. It is easy to just jog around and add up the miles but running on the track takes mental effort and the willingness to put yourself in some pain. Another difficult aspect of running on the track these days is getting used to running slower times than I used to and comparing myself to my youth. I suppose that is unavoidable. I just try to remind myself of my goals and think long term. Eventually I am sure the track times will come down.
On a different subject... I am so lucky to live here. There are miles of trails and country road just out my door and an all weather track five minutes from my apartment. I have switched my track days to Wednesday, Friday because the track team is up there on those days. It is much easier to run hard workouts on the track when I am not alone. I don't think that they mind me using the track at the same time they are, though the interactions with them are kind of unusual. I used to greet the track team members when I saw them on the track, but the reactions were so mixed ranging from laughter to ignoring me to the occasional reciprocal greeting, that I have decided to let them initiate. But anyway they don't seem to mind and I appreciate the company.
Today Thurday I ran three this morning with Loran. Usually we run the same 3 mile loop together and when we get back I add on another 1 or 2. But today I was quite tired because of yesterday so I just did the 3 loop. After school i ran a 6.7 loop up through the tunnel and to the "rock". It was incredibly slow. I was crawling but I did it and got 9.7 for the day. With this increase in mileage a lot of my miles are so slow. I hope naturally they get faster as i get fitter.

Sunday Run

2006-05-21T22:21:00.000+09:00

So far so good. I got 68 miles in this week. It's my second week in a row over 60. I feel like I am training seriously again and it feels good. Today I went for the traditional long run and did a slow 16. I was trying out a new course so as it is with new courses, it was a bit slower than usual. There was a lot of uncertainty and backtracking as I had to decide which way to go many times. The route was up the hill to Kurondo Ike, ike means lake. At the lake I studied the map of the area and asked a few guys for directions. From the lake I decided to cut through the woods on the Kurondo ike hiking course to get to the main highway. The trails were quite slow because at times I was running over over slippery rocks and up and down stairways. I eventually made it out of the woods and hit the main highway. Basically I followed the highway up and over some big hills and looped home. On the final leg down the farmers road I ran into a couple of farmers who had driven their truck partly off the road. It was about to go over the cliff so they were working hard to lift it back onto the road. I say lift it because as with many things in Japan the truck was quite small. So I stopped for a bit to help them get their truck back on the road and then headed home for a long drink of cold water and a great breakfast with Loran.

mileage

2006-05-18T21:36:00.000+09:00

Running is going fairly well these days. I got about 62 miles in last week and I am on pace for about 70 this week. I went 15 last Sunday which is the longest I have gone in a while. It is kind of exciting to be training seriously again. It really has been such a long time since I put any serious mileage in. I am not sure why. I guess I always knew that mileage was the secret for me to go to a higher level. When I made my first breakthrough from 36:20 10 K to a 34 min 10 K it was because of a summer of 70 mile weeks. I eventually got down to 32's because of many 80-100 mile weeks. After I finished running seriously in the 80's I never really approached that kind of mileage again. Of course it isn't particularly easy to consistently run "higher" mileage. The difficult part is not getting injured. The higher the mileage the greater the chance of breaking down, of straining a muscle, getting a stress fracture or many other of many possible running injuries. My strategy is to run all my non-speedwork workouts quite slowly. Actually it isn't really my choice. I am so exhausted because of running as much as I am, that my runs are naturally slow. Anyway, so far so good. If I can put 10 weeks of 70 mpw I will be in pretty good shape I think.

immigrants

2006-05-08T19:37:00.000+09:00

Today was kind of a difficult teaching day. My Reading and Writing classes were fine but my Developmental Writing class was a bit difficult. In general Japanese students will not answer open questions to the class. For example, if I say ask, can anyone name a city in Japan, (I know stupid question), no one will volunteer an answer. If I want them to tell me the answer I have to have them talk about it in pairs and then I have them report on their partner's answer. They don't want to stand out, they don't want to seem like a brown noser so they won't answer, no matter how simple the question is. But there are some times when I am just trying to elicit something from them to start an activity and I don't want to go through the longer process of going through pairs etc.. Anyway I was asking the class a couple of questions and predictably they gave me nothing. Of course it is not surprising but at times it is very irritating. These are all students who profess to wanting to be interpreters, English teachers etc. I also had a couple of your ladies giving me attitude which I also found a bit trying. I must remember they are teenagers and young teenagers at that.
My other fun experience today was a conversation with a student after class. I have talked to this young guy several times after class before. He is kind of an eager kid, he seems like he really wants to learn and he will be going to Colorado to study next semester. So he started talking about how the birthrate is really going down in Japan. I asked him if he thought this was a good thing or a bad thing. He said it was bad because Japan will need more immigrants and that is a bad thing. I asked why and he said it is because Japan will become more dangerous and it will lose its culture. I suggested that immigrants might bring some good thing s to a country. He didn't seem convinced. I said that the immigrants are doing many of the 3 d jobs in Japan, dangerous, difficult and dirty. If the immigrants leave, Japanese will have to do these jobs themselves. I also suggested that of course Japan could close themselves off but then Japanese also shouldn't be able to immigrate to other countries. They can't have the best of both worlds. He didn't understand this logic.
He said that immigrants are bad for the economy. I asked how and he said the English teachers he knew at language schools save their money and send it home and then they go home. I guess to make a long story short it is painful to hear from the students that you are trying to help that there are too many of you, foreigners, in Japan and that is hurting the country. Honestly that is a pretty common idea here. Most Japanese think there are too many foreigners in Japan. In Japan 1% of the population are foreigners. About 50% are Koreans who might have been here for generations. The second largest group is Chinese and Americans are about 1% of the foreigner population. Japanese attitudes towards foreigners is something I am well aware of but I choose to ignore because it is an unchangeable fact of life of living here. But every once in a while I am in a situation where I can't ignore it.

Attached is an article with some similar information.

http://www.davidappleyard.com/japan/jp42.htm

Golden Week

2006-05-07T18:16:00.000+09:00

This past week was Golden Week in Japan. Golden week is a week of several holidays that fall in the same week. Most Japanese get most of the week off. We got Wednesday through Sunday off this past week. It was a nice break before the long stretch till summer vacation. Actually we have only had three weeks of school so far but vacation is always a good thing no matter when it happens. Anyway we had planned to go to Nagano, the site of the winter Olympics. I made online reservations for a hotel but at the last minute the online service cancelled so we didn't have a place to stay. I went to the travel agency in the school in hope of getting help finding a hotel. She spent a couple of hours looking and couldn't find anything. Of course it was a day before vacation so I am sure most things were booked. From previous expereince I know that basically Japanese all go to the same places on vacation. I surmised that most Japanese would be at the popular places and the other places would be empty. I asked the agent where Japanese weren't going and of course she looked at me like I was crazy.. I told her we wanted to go to some small town that was out of the way and had something interesting to see. She had no clue where to direct me so I thanked her, apologized for wasting her time and proceeded to find a place on my own. I went to my faithful "Lonely Planets Guide to Japan" and found a town about halfway between here and Hiroshima called Okayama. It is famous for having one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan and is the home of the "Peach boy -Momotaro" a famous legendary character. It is also known for the black castle pictured above. On Wednesday morning we left Nagao, the closest station to home and started a 4 hour trip to our destination. We decided to take the local trains, not the bullet train, because we wanted to actually see where we were going, not see it as a blur out the window. We were expecting to stand for a great portion of the trip but actually got a seat relatively soon and had a pleasant trip to our destination with a short stop in Himeji for lunch.
When we arrived in Okayama we went to a hotel we found in the guide book, The Washington Hotel, asked if they had any rooms, they did, and took a short nap. Okayama is a very pleasant, liveable city. It made me a bit envious. We live so far out in the country that going to Starbucks is a journey. It would be nice to live downton where you could eat out, go shopping etc without a trip. After visiting the Korakuen garden we searched for a place to eat and after a long search we went to a chain restaurant, The Asian Kitchen.
The next day we visited Kurashiki, a neighboring city which is famous for its old town. We watched part of a sword demonstration. I was not a good foreigner because when they asked me to participate in the demonstration with the local children I declined. I didn't want the children to praactice on me. When you go to these kinds of events, you will often be asked to participate as the represetative foreigner. When I was young and genki (energetic, gullible) I often said yes. This led to such awkward events like me attempting traditional dance in front of a thousand students, me singing "Let it be" in front of the entire student body and other events that are hard to forget no matter how hard I try.
After visiting Kurashiki we made the trip back home with a short stop in Amagasaki for lunch and shopping.
The lesson I learned from this trip are that you can travel in the popular travel times as long as you don't go to the same place that Japanese go. I heard from friends that parks in Kyoto were incredibly crowded as were other popular destinations. So I guess the secret of travelling in Japan is Go where they ain't.

Slow!!

2006-05-07T18:01:00.000+09:00

I went for a long run today, 2:17, 12 and a half miles. I know it is incredibly slow. It is kind of shocking to me how slow I am running these days. It doesn't feel slow but it surely is. I am pushing the pace. I don't feel like I am jogging. Oh well, hopefully it will get better with time. As I said before the GPS watch is making me face reality and run the distances I am supposed to be running. That is one thing I like about running. It is very objective.. a mile is a mile everywhere. A minute is the same in every time zone. There is no faking it. Anyway training the past week or so has been going well. Last week I did 6 x 1K at 4:10. It felt like work so I guess that is a good thing. I need to be consistent in getting in both of the speed workouts I have scheduled each week. The last several weeks I have just gotten one in. Hopefully this will be a good training week

Trust

2006-04-27T18:55:00.000+09:00

It is Thursday of the third week of the semester. Things have gotten much better since my last post. Classes are going better and the students are settling in to patterns and are learning my expections and mostly importantly for me, are starting to trust me. I think that is one of the most important issues between teacher and student. When students start a class they often have no idea who you are. They look at you and wonder what kind of teacher you will be. They of course have a history with many teachers, some they loved and some they hated. The question is where will you fit into that spectrum. The first few weeks there is a lot of judging going on. Are you competent, a loser, funny, boring, kind, mean, or trustworthy? If you pass their internal test they will trust you and follow you, where you lead the class. If you fail the test, they will glare at you, ignore you and resist where you are trying to take them. That is why the first couple of weeks are so crucial. If they decide not to follow you, it can be a long semester.. I think my students are starting to trust me...

Reality

2006-04-27T18:23:00.000+09:00

The past week or so of running hasn't been particularly good. I was sick with a cold and fever for about four days but now am back to almost normal. The biggest development in my running life has been the acquisition of a Garmin 305. This is a very "sophisticated" running watch that has GPS capabilities. In short, it tells you exactly how far you are going and how fast. It makes the fantacizing runner face reality. I can no longer call that 9.2 mile run, ten miles. I now know that it is 9.213 exactly. I can no longer fool myself into believing that I am training at 7 min. pace. I have been slapped in the face with the proof of global positioning sattelites that I am training slowly. Really slowly. So slowly that I don't even want to write how slowly. On the other hand it is incredibly hilly where I live. Many of my runs start with a mile or so of uphill running. But no more excuses, rationalizations. I face that I am running slowly. Of course that doesn't mean that I will start training faster, it just means that I will have to run farther to make sure i am actually running the distances I thought I was running. So actually that is a good thing for me.

The Top Dog

2006-04-20T21:39:00.000+09:00

Things in the classroom went much better today. I think it was a combination of being more organized and also of going in with more confidence. I have one class "Writing" that hasn't gone so well recently. Like I said before there is always a period in the beginning where you have to build the rapport and build the students trust. The writing class is the highest level class in the junior college and higher level students tend to be a bit more demanding. Today I just went in with a little more confidence and I made a point of talking to the girls I think are the leaders in the class. I just chit-chatted with them, just so they would know that I am aware of them and to build some kind of relationship. When they left they both said good-bye, which is a definite step forward. There are always students in each class that have to be won over. If you don't do it one way or another they can quite annoying over the long haul. Boys and girls are different of course. There are the tough boys, some who will try to intimidate you by giving you the look or just freezing you out. I tend to confront those boys directly just to show them they are far from intimidating. My confrontation just involves talking to them a lot and not showing fear. With girls I think it is important to have a friendly relationship if possible. As with the boys I just try to make some kind of connection with them. My theory on group dynamics is that every group needs a top dog, a leader, and as the teacher I am going to be that dog. When the group doesn't have a clear leader, somebody will try to filll that role and it is usually not a postive person. I have even seen that at the graduate level. I had one class where the teacher was very knowledgeable, kind etc. but not very strong. One of the negative students in the class ended up taking leadership in the power vacuum and of course the result wasn't pretty. I think students, especially the less mature ones can smell weakness, so it is important to establish early that you are the lead dog.

teaching

2006-04-19T20:10:00.000+09:00

This is my first teaching post. I will write in red when I am talking aout teaching. Some background... I am teaching at a university near Osaka. I have been at this university for the past 3 and a half years and I have a year and a half to go on my contract. Most contracts for foreigners here are short term, from 2 to 5 years. I have been teaching in Japan off and on for about 13 years starting at a language school for three years, moving to a high school for 6 and a half and lastly to this university

. In the teaching section of the blog I want to just reflect on things that are happening in my teaching and maybe talk a little bit about what it is like to teach here.

I am teaching 5 classes at the moment, 2 reading and writing classes, one oral communication class and one writing class in the junior college that is connected to this university. So far the start to this semester has been a little rough. I always find it an adjustment getting used to new classes. It always takes time and work to create the right atmosphere and to train the students to do what you want in class. Of course you also have to re-establish yourself to new studetns. It is kind of a pain to get them to the point where they belive you are a good teacher and will follow you in the direction you are taking the class. Thankfully today went better. My classes were more organized and things went more smoothly than they have recently so I am happy.

2006-04-19T19:38:00.000+09:00

Tuesday afternoon - I missed my morning run today. For the afternoon I was on the track. Two miles warm up and then 30 minutes at 7:20 pace. Two miles warm down. This is my "tempo" pace. Tempo pace should be about a minute per mile slower than 5K race pace. It went pretty well. It felt easier than last week. I feel like I am getting in better shape.

I was on the track at the same time as the university track team. It is always kind of interesting to interact with them. I have tried many times to initiate contact and been ignored or laughed at so now I let them initiate. Recently when I run by they say fighto fighto, which means good job. Last week one member of the team came up to talk to me. He lived in the US for one year and went to school at WSU. He is quite a nice kid and of course it is nice to have some interaction with other runners. Last week I also saw another western runner working out with the team. I said hello to him but he kind of ignored me. It is always a dodgy thing when you meet another "foreigner here in Japan. Most will ignore you. There are not many "gaijin" in this area so it is quite unusual to bump into one. It seems most white foregners will not say anything if they run into a fellow traveler but non-white foreigners will often say hello. My pet peeves are those who are staring at you but when you say hello they look away.

Wednesday - am 4 miles- cemetary run. PM 4 miles reverse cemetary run. The afternoon run, actually at 5:30 was quite humid and I was overdressed. I think it is time to switch to shorts and a t-shirt

About my goals - About a month and a half ago I ran 5K in 19:58. My goal is to get into the 16+ range. I know it seems like a giant jump but I think it is possible. My personal record for 5k is 15:18 which was run when I was around 25. I am 45 now. So I have age working against me and I also have weight. In my best running days I was in the 130-140 range. Now I am 180. So I have some work to do.

My training has been going well for the past couple of months. I am running between 50-60 miles a week with two speed workouts and one long run. I am working with the famous internet coach Tinman. He has really been great to work with and has really helped my running. So I hope to be able to reach my goals.

Solo run

2006-04-17T23:37:00.000+09:00

Monday morning. I did my usual am 4 mile loop. Loran was sick so I was on my own this morning. I felt better than usual and actually wasn't tight the whole run. Usually morning runs are quite painful, but today was a nice surprise. This week I hope to bump back up to the 60-70 mile range.

Tradition

2006-04-16T16:16:00.000+09:00

Sunday- Today is the traditional day for long runs. The plan was to run for about 2 hours from my house to Shintanabe and then take the bus home. I ran the first 30 minutes with L and then continued on. The first hour of this run is on trails and the last hour is on the road into Shintanabe. After leaving L I picked up the pace a bit but not much. I was quite tired today because I ran speed on Thursday so my legs were quite dead.

I am so lucky to be living in this area. There are so many trails within running distance. Every time I go out I find new trails to explore.

Anyway on the last section of trails before I hit the road I made a wrong turn and ended up getting a bit lost in the bamboo forest. There are many trail markers in the woods, red, yellow and blue posts so I thought I was doing ok as I followed them. Unfortunately they led me to a dead end at the bottom of a ravine. I backtracked up following the posts again and tried another little trail. The same thing happened. The posts lead me to the edge of a ravine above a stream. I could have tried to reverse course and go all the way back the way I came but it was uphill and would have been a long way so I decided to go forward. I slid down the side of the ravine, holding on to trees and rocks, and made it down to the stream. I followed the woodsmans rule that says when you are lost, follow water to lead you out of trouble. So I followed the stream and thankfully it led me out of the woods to the edge of a giant rice field. I crossed the field to get to the nearest road and then headed downhill again since I knew that was the direction I needed to go. I confirmed my directions by asking a farmer the way to town. He was quite friendly, he told me the way and then said Kiotsukete ne (Be careful) I was impressed by his kindness. So I headed off down the road until I came to a road that I recognized and then jogged the rest of the way into Shintanabe. The total run was 2:42. I will call it 14 because of a lot of slow "running" when I was lost. After arriving in Shintanbe, I had some time to blow so I stopped at Mr. Donuts for 3 donuts and a coke. Ah the breakfast of champions!!

Goals

2006-04-16T15:38:00.000+09:00

The goals of this blog are 1. to keep track of my life in Japan. I have lived here off and on for 13 years and as my memories fade I fear I am forgetting important experiences. 2. I want to chronicle a semester or so of teaching at a Japanese University for my own growth and possibly for teachers who are interested in teaching in Japan at this level. Lastly I would like to write about my running as I pursue my goals and try to tansform myself back into the runner I once was...at least in my mind.