With nine days remaining before Sanspo Chiba Marine Half Marathon 2018 that's held on Jan. 21, I did something extraordinary (well, for ME at least): 10 Sets by 1.3km interval training at 4:00/1K pace with a two-minute rest between reps. Of course, this pace is an ideal target. I wasn't sure if I could make it. But I wanted to aim for it.
The weather condition was good. It was very cold, but there was almost no wind. The quarter-pie-shaped loop near my house was deserted with just a few cars parked along the way. There's nothing to disturb my challenge.
Round 1. I started off at a brisk pace, and kept it all along the way, and surged a little bit before the finish. The time was 5:22.26. Already behind my original target of 5:12 by ten seconds. But I was already fairly out of breath, and wasn't sure if I could crank up the pace any further.
The two-minute rest time quickly evaporated. Round 2 began. I felt reasonably warmed up from the first rep., and maintained a good pace throughout the rep. 5:21.40 was my time. I thought I was slower, but the time showed otherwise.
From the third set on my time started deteriorating bit by bit, but there was nothing I could do. I was just not strong enough to run faster.
When the first 5 sets were over, I considered taking a longer rest to improve my performance in each of the following sets, but I decided not to, because it could kill the benefit of the endeavor.
In the second half of the training I ran one set with a kick in the last couple of hundred meters, and the following set without a big kick at the end. This allowed me to stay motivated.
In the last set but one my time dipped to 5:45.18, which was tremendously demotivating, but I faced the reality and went on, hoping to get close to some of the more decent times in the first half.
In the final lap I ran at a pretty brisk pace right from the start, and did my best to keep it. And in the last couple of hundred meters I put on a spurt like a mad man, taking much wider strides than usual, making good use of a rotational movement of my core to gain forward momentum. I pictured the moment of finish in a full marathon, and how my last second effort counted to finish under my target time. It's over. The time was 5:29. It wasn't as good as those from the first set, but I was glad I finished under 5:30.
My heart beat like drums. I felt as if my whole body had become one big heart. I took a sip of warm wheat tea from my stainless bottle, and walked home.
I was surprised how refreshed I felt when the training was over. I had expected to feel like a dead man. Well, I did feel like a zombie all right while running, but not so much so once it's over. That's the beauty of running training. It feels like shit before you do it. Once it's done, it feels like you're in seventh heaven.
The details of today's training is shown below:
①1.3km: 5:22.26
Rest: 2:00.32
②1.3km: 5:21.40
Rest: 2:00.32
③1.3km: 5:26.25
Rest: 2:00.15
④1.3km: 5:23.12
Rest: 2:00.28
⑤1.3km: 5:35.14
Rest: 2:00.38
⑥1.3km: 5:30.95
Rest: 2:00.68
⑦1.3km: 5:43.30
Rest: 2:00.39
⑧1.3km: 5:32.01
Rest: 2:00.24
⑨1.3km: 5:45.18
Rest: 2:00.35
⑩1.3km: 5:29.07
Total 13km: 1:13:11
My next training is probably this Sunday. I want to go for a long, and slow run, probably between 30 and 35 K. And if I can, I want to run extra 10 to 15 K at another time on the same day to make it double training to cover a beyond-full-marathon distance in preparation for a full marathon in Tateyama, Chiba that's scheduled for Jan. 28.
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