Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Midnight 5 K Barefoot Run

I ran a 2.5 K loop barefoot twice to cover 5 K last night. Two days ago the first winter wind was reported, and the temperature was low. But there was little wind, and I had my wind-breaker on, I didn't feel cold, and I practiced comfortably.

I was afraid my feet might feel too cold for barefoot run, but the cold was bearable. I enjoyed the direct tough on the asphalt. The quality of the pavement isn't entirely even. The first 500 M is especially rough, and short strides and soft landing are required. But that is the whole point of barefoot running. You adjust the way you run according to the quality of the road surface, because there is no cushioning to protect your sole.

Past the 500 M point until the 1 K point, the road surface is smooth and landing is easy. I enjoy running this part of the loop most when it comes to barefoot run. The remaining part of the loop is good and bad. Some ares are smooth. But other areas are rough. There are fewer lights, which makes it difficult to detect small and edgy pebbles. Accidental landing on them is quite demotivating, but it happens every now and then. I wish my soles were tough enough not to be bothered by them. But my soles are still not that strong. They never seem to get tougher as I go on with my practice. But all I can do is hang in there and hope they will some day.

I didn't feel warmed up yet when the first lap was over, mostly because I ran very slowly, careful not to damage the sole. My speed wasn't that high also because on the previous night I did intervals and my legs were a bit sore. I thought of stopping, but decided not to. I went on for another lap. I felt fully warmed up shortly after starting the second lap. I picked up the pace slightly, but not too much. The purpose of the training that night wasn't pushing beyond limit. I ran for a daily conditioning of my body.

Toward the end of the second lap I felt a part of my left sole slightly sore. I called it a day when I reached home. I was a bit disappointed I couldn't go farther. But injury should be avoided no matter what. Should I be injured, I would fall behind significantly on my progress. That would suck.

The result is as follows:
1st 2.5 K: 14:14.23
2nd 2.5 K: 13:19.43
Total 5 K: 27:33.66

My next training will be Thursday night. I want to do hill repeats barefoot,

Monday, October 30, 2017

Midnight Park Intervals


I stayed in Honatsugi over the weekend through Tuesday morning. With the typhoon gone, and the sky cleared, I went for a practice run around Atusgi Central Park a couple of minutes from the hotel I was staying at. It's 700 M when you make a full circle around it. I aimed for ten repeats, but felt tense in my stomach after doing three. I almost quit there, but decided to jog for a while, hoping that the pain would go away. Luckily, it did, so I starting doing fast repeats four more times. The result is as follows:
1st 700 M: 2:27.95
Jog: 1:30.54
2nd 700 M: 2:44.52
Jog: 1:30.74
3rd 700 M: 2:50.15
Jog: 6:47.45
4th 700 M: 2:52.24
Jog: 1:30.82
5th 700 M: 2:48.99
Jog: 1:30.75
6th 700 M: 2:53.37
Jog: 1:30.88
7th 700 M: 2:47.33
Jog: 1:59.51
Total 7 Sets by 700 M+Jogs: 35:45.24  

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Abebe Wannabe's Midnight Barefoot Hill Repeats & Cruise

On Oct. 25, 2017 I pass the qualifying test for getting my motorcycle license. I feel both ecstatic and relieved. Because I wanted to reward myself for the achievement while these feelings were still fresh, I ran 10 K barefoot. It felt so good, and I was satisfied.

I jogged over to the hilly stretch where I usually do hill repeats, and did 4 repeats, and came home. Four is not a lot. But I felt weak, so I didn't push myself too much. Probably my carb intake wasn't enough. But as the hill repeats were over, and I was back on a flat road, somehow I felt re-energized, so once I got home, I dropped a water bottle that I was carrying, and left for a fast-paced run around the 2.5 K loop in my neighborhood. After doing the hill repeats, it felt easy and I enjoyed running at a brisk pace.

When I got home, I still had some energy left, but I was expecting an early start the following day to go to the license bureau to get my motorcycle license, I called it a day.

Once out of the shower room, I felt so hungry, so I fueled myself with some miso soup with fresh mushrooms and veggies, and enjoyed having several pieces of sushi from Ohedo. I could have eaten more, but I decided not to because it could tire my internal organ. I'm not worried too much about gaining weight by eating late at night. That's not a problem with me because I can easily burn extra calories from a late night meal.

The detail of the practice run is as follows:
Warm Up 1.7 K: 9.16.99
1st K: 5:08.83
2nd K: 5:13.18
3rd K: 5:13.90
4th K: 5:08.22
Warm Down 1.9 K: 10.37.61
Fast-Paced Run 2.5 K: 12:27.56
Total 10.1 K: 53:06.29 

Monday, October 23, 2017

Abebe Wannabe's 10 Sets by 1K Barefoot Hill Repeats

I did 10 sets by 1 K hill repeats without wearing shoes in order to further improve my running efficiency. I first jogged around my house for about ten minutes. I then headed for my favorite 1 K hilly stretch 1.7 K from home. I did 10 sets of 1 K hill repeats there. After that I jogged back home. I didn't measure the distance during the first 10-minute jog, but gathering from the time, it's probably somewhere around 3.5 K. The detail of the practice tonight is as follows:

Warm Up: 19:05.36
1st K: 5:27.65
2nd K: 5:24.45
3rd K: 5:23.97
4th K: 5:17.11
5th K: 5:18.57
6th K: 5:23.25
7th K: 5:15.11
8th K: 5:12.74
9th K: 5:16.70
10th K: 4:55.95
Warm Down 1.7 K: 9:35.87
Total 15.2 K: 1:21:36

I feel my soles have gotten tougher. The texture of the road was occasionally rather coarse, and it hurt a little. But that wasn't unbearably painful. I felt like I could go on even after doing ten repeats, but I stopped. My cardio was still strong, but the soles started feeling slightly sore. A blister would prevent me from training. So I called it a day.

I feel much more confident about running barefoot. I might go for a test run on the course of Gas Light 10 K Road Race held in Yotsukaido this coming November. I test-ran the course last year, but there were so many small edgy pebbles on the road, and I gave up within 5 minutes of starting off. Maybe this year my soles have gotten strong enough to run through the bad condition.

Friday, October 20, 2017

Abebe-Wannabe's 30-Minute Barefoot Run

I ran barefoot because it rained and the road was wet. A wet road provides an idealistic condition for barefoot running. The friction between the sole and the road surface becomes minimum, and therefore there is less chance of getting blisters.

Today I carefully chose the road that has the smoothest surface. The road conditions vary from place to place. Some have a very coarse surface. Others have a much finer and smoother surface. It is demotivating to run on a coarse surface. You cannot pick up the pace. It's frustrating. On the other hand, when you run on a smooth surface, you can run just like you run in minimalist shoes. There is little to hurt your sole. The feet feel cool on a wet road. Your legs feel a lot lighter than when you run in shoes.

Today I ran 20 minutes at an easy pace, and in the last 10 minutes I did alternate runs where I ran fast one minute, and jogged another minute and did this set altogether five times to run 30 minutes in total.

I feel more eager to run a race barefoot than before, which is my all-time dream, which was originally ignited by legendary Olympian Abebe Bikila who won the men's marathon in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, running barefoot.

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Sunday 30 K Run In The Rain Over 16 Big-Ass Hills


Where there is a will, there is a way, they say. I'd say, "Where there is a hill, there is a man who runs it." 

It was raining slightly, and a bit chilly for running, but that didn't stop me. I changed into my athletic outfit, and went out for a practice run to hit altogether 16 hills to cover a little over 30 K. 

14.9 K: 1:20:22
Water & Food Break: 7:55.43
15.52 K:1:25:42
Total 30.42 K: 2:54:00

I ran out of gas around 27 K, and had slight pain in my right knee in the last couple of kilometers. It doesn't surprise me because the longest I ran before this training is 20 K, and that's more than two weeks ago. I should increase the distance more gradually if I want to avoid injury. Luckily, it didn't lead to any lingering pain because I slowed down to protect it. So there is no problem. I hate injuries. They keep me from training. I have one month before my next race. What shall I do? In the past I would focus on speed because the race in November is 10 K, and speed is required. But this creates one problem. I have a half marathon race only two weeks after the 10 K race. If I focus too much on speed at the sacrifice of long-distance endurance, I cannot catch up by the half marathon. In the past that seems to be exactly what happened. So what will I do? Well, I think I will continue to train around the distance of 25 K and beyond to build solid long-distance endurance, and mix in speed training as a tonic. That's what I'm going to do. My next training is going to be either on Wednesday or Thursday. I may run 25 K at a comfortable pace, or jog 20 K, and do some fast-paced repeats after that. 

Friday, October 13, 2017

Friday Night 1.3 K Intervals

When I came home, it was raining slightly. I don't mind running in the rain. Plus, I felt like burning some calories after having several dishes of sushi on my way home, so I hit the road. I didn't have time to go for a long run, though, because I had an early start the following morning, but I didn't want to run at the same pace all way through, so I started off slowly around a quarter-pie-shaped park in my neighborhood which is 650 M, and then feeling warmed up enough, I kicked for a fast run twice around the park to cover 1.3 K. I repeated this set three times to feel burned out for the day.

The result is as follows:
Warm Up 650 M: 3:0.96
Fast 1.3 K: 5:56.27
Jog 650 M: 3:49.40
Fast 1.3 K: 5:42.14
Jog 650 M: 3:58.01
Fast 1.3 K: 5:38.28
Total 5.85: 28:55.05
 
I like gradually increasing the pace, instead of slowing down as I go along. It feels better. It keeps me motivated.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Making a Change

I have decided to make a small change in my life. That is, going to work a couple of hours earlier than before. In the past I would go to work before 1:45 pm, and leave work somewhere between 10:15 and 10:45 pm depending on how much work I needed to do after teaching my last lecture in the evening that ended at 9:35 pm. A few weeks ago, the school was renovated, and each lesson has become ten minutes longer to be 90 minutes, which is as long as an average university lecture. Alongside this change in the length of lecture, time has now been shifted to 7:00 to 8:30 pm to allow students to come to class without rushing, and also go home earlier than before. I am hoping that these changes will be generally accepted positively.

Anyhow, since the lesson ends at 8:30 pm now, I do not need to stay in the office till as late as I used to unless, of course, I have something urgent to do. Over the past few weeks, however, I DID always have something urgent AND important to do, unfortunately, so I wasn’t able to take advantage of the earlier finish of the night lecture, but I’m becoming more and more used to the new schedule, so I thought I might want to try going to work early and finishing up early.

However, it creates one big problem. If I go to work early, I cannot go to my favorite sushi restaurant to have lunch. Having sushi there before going to work has been so important for me. It gives me energy, and also it gives me something to write about. I thought it over for a couple of days, and finally came to a solution, which is going there after work, taking out some for the next morning’s breakfast, eating it the following morning, and leaving for work. This way, I would never miss having sushi before work. Beautiful!


The only downside is that there aren’t many good things left when I go there at night. All my favorite stuff is usually gone by then. But that does not mean there is nothing good left to eat. I can carefully select things that I like to take back home. 

Thursday Night 12.5 K Run

The detail of tonight's practice run is as follows:
1st 2.5 K: 13:27.57 (5:23/K)
2nd 2.5 K: 13:09.62 (5:16/K)
3rd 2.5 K: 12.57.20 (5:11/K)
4th 2.5 K: 12.51.25 (5:08/K)
5th 2.5 K: 11.36.42 (4:38/K)
Total 12.5 K: 1:04:02 (5:07/K)

Too exhausted to write anything else. Might write more tomorrow. Will hit the bed soon. Good night...


Wednesday Night 10 K Run

I ran 10 K after coming home from work. I ran my favorite 2.5 K loop near my house four times. In the first two laps I felt my legs heavy, and couldn't pick up the pace. I didn't make any special effort to run faster and cruised on. While I was running my third lap, I thought I was going to switch to fast-paced intervals, but toward the end I felt warmed up enough to run on, so instead of doing fast repeats after taking a short break, I kept on running without a break. In the second half of the fourth lap, I changed into track mode and pressed on. In the final stretch I overtook a woman cycling home from work. For a moment, I thought about doing intervals after taking a short break. But I changed my mind in the last minute. I wanted to hit the bed while I was feeling good.

The detail of the practice run is as follows:
1st 2.5 K: 13:26.27
2nd 2.5 K: 13:24.95
3rd 2.5 K: 13.09.02
4th 2.5 K: 12.03.07
Total 10 K: 52:03.31

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Sunday 50-Minute Run

I had a 50-minute practice run. I was originally planning to run beyond 20 K, but I didn't feel well when I woke up this morning, so decided not to. I had a dinner party organized by my company, and had a little too much to drink. I had a slight hangover, and a little blood was detected in my bodily waste. It's a sign of serious inflammation in the bowels. A beyond 20 K run would be too physiologically strenuous to my internal organs. I decided to settle for a shorter distance. But at the same time, I didn't want to make it too easy. So I decided to run for 50 minute, and run one minute fast, and another minute slowly and repeat this set 25 times.

I tried not to push myself too much, but I was out of breath soon. I got burned out after doing 10 sets. I thought of quitting. But instead of calling it a day, I decided to switch to jogging. I jogged for 10 minutes when I felt reasonably recovered, so I decided to do the alternate run once again. I felt too exhausted to continue, with a few more sets remaining to complete a 50-minute session, but instead of quitting, I decided to continue yet again. I ran in shorter strides, which is a little less challenging than running in wider strides, but tried to take faster steps to increase cardio-vascular challenge.

The detail of today's training is as follows:

10 Sets by [One-Minute Fast Run + One-Minute Slow Run]
10-Minute Jog
10 Sets by [One-Minute Fast Run + One-Minute Slow Run]
Total 50 minutes

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Kazuo Ishiguro Wins Nobel Prize

Big news spread across Japan this morning. Japanese-born British citizen Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Though I've been a big fan of him, and for that reason I am very happy to hear the good news, the news was unexpected, especially in the country where a whole bunch of so-called Haruki-ists were eagerly looking forward to world-renowned Haruki Murakami receiving the long-awaited prize.

I'm on my way to Ohfuna where I'm teaching a seminar this afternoon, and on my lap is "Never Let Me Go", one of his best-selling novels. In 2010 when the movie adaptation of the book came to Japan, I went to a small theater in Shibuya with a Chinese friend girl of mine and watched it. I enjoyed it a lot. I instantly became his fan, and I immediately bought the book, and while I was reading it, I watched "The Remains of the Day". I enjoyed both. "The Remains of the Day" was widely acclaimed, with Anthony Hopkins in the leading role and showing Oscar-worthy performances. But what satisfied me most was that I thought I reached one of the core values of the author: one finds happiness in one's field of expertise.

I listened to his interview immediately after he won the prize, and he clearly stated this value of his in the speech. He said something like, "I wanted to say to everyone that being financially successful and getting ahead in life is not the only form of happiness. There are things that are a lot more important than that." I couldn't agree more.

I hope many people will read his books or their movie adaptations. I think it will allow them to re-think their values and how they are going to live the rest of their lives. As for me, I'm considering reading "The Remains of the Day". I've seen the film. But I haven't read the book yet.

Thursday Night 15.4 K Jog

I ran 15.4 K after work. The details are as follows. I'm too burned out to write anything else.

Warm Up: 1.7 K: 9:33.86
Hill Repeats
1st K: 5:13.98
2nd K: 5:24.71
3rd K: 5:19.00
4th K: 5:18.81
5th K: 5:20.76
6th K: 5:21.50
Water Break: 15.13
7th K: 5:15.46
8th K: 5:19.76
9th K: 5:20.49
10th K: 5:29.51
Water Break: 15.35
11th K: 5.17.70
12th K: 5:06.63
Warm Down: 10.06.11
Total 15.4 K: 1:23:58

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Learning to Ride a Motorcycle: Stage 2, Lesson 3&4

I'm in Stage 2 of my motorcycle training. I had anticipated something radically different from Stage 1, but the truth of the matter is much of what I do is what I did in Stage 1. But of course there are differences. The main one is greater focus on traffic laws. Instructors observe my driving carefully from behind, and give me feedback on what I should have done according to traffic laws.

The second big difference is learning about potential dangers associated with the monstrously more powerful vehicle than a moped. I did slalom with Mr. I, my favorite teacher who impresses me with his logical explanation and readiness to bring out more out of me when I'm ready for a new challenge. He told me to do slalom on third and fourth gear which force you to drive a lot faster.  I could handle third, but couldn't very well manage fourth. He then told me to do it on second gear again, but this time to use the throttle to increase the speed while doing it. It was not easy! He allowed me to try it a few times, told me how I was doing, and  gave me advice on how I could do better. I knew very well what he was saying, but just couldn't put it into practice! Boy, I felt so miserable that I couldn't impress the teacher with quick acquisition!

Luckily, there was a cancellation, and I took one more lesson on the same day, but this time with a new teacher, Mr. K. I learned with him how to drive around a corner at different speeds, and also about potential dangers, as well as your chance of avoiding accidents when cornering at a safe speed. The lesson was so valuable.

My next visit to the school is almost three weeks ahead. I'm going to take four lessons in a row. Once those are done, I will be only two steps away from graduation. I'm excited about the prospect. Meanwhile, I will take every opportunity to practice what I have learned when I ride my scooter.



Weekend Double Training Part 2: 1.3 K Intervals

Nine hours after I did hill pace runs earlier today, I did 1.3 K intervals as the second portion of my double training intended to increase my daily mileage even  when my schedule is tight and one long heck of a run is next to impossible.

I did three reps at the paces shown below with a two-minute rest between reps:
1st 1.3 K: 5:10.11
Rest: 2:00.21
2nd 1.3 K: 5:22.35
Rest :2:00.24
3rd 1.3 K: 5:23.43
Rest: 2:00.46
Warm Down 1.3 K: 7:08.01
Warm Down 1.3 K: 6:45.86
Total: 6.5 K: 35:50.67

I'm glad that in all of the first three reps I came under 5:30.00.
My next goal is to increase reps while keeping my time under 5:30/1.3 K.

Today's total mileage is 19.9 K. My next goal in terms of mileage is to go beyond 20 K a day, part of which will be covered by intervals.