Edogawa 10k

Yesterday's Edogawa 10k served as a wake-up call for me. It is apparent now that running two days per week is not adequate training to maintain my competitive racing level. For the past 3-4 months I have been doing a solid interval running workout every Wednesday night, but the rest of the week I am focused on swimming, cycling, and yoga. I assumed other run workouts will somehow materialize, but invariably what has happened is that each week I only end up squeezing in one additional garbage run - usually 8-9k around the Palace with a friend at a slow pace (see blog entry from October 7).


Prior to yesterday's 10k I knew I was in trouble (my Wednesday track times have been slipping by 5-10 seconds per kilometer). I ran the first kilometer of Sunday's race at 3:45, then attempted to increase the speed a bit. I hit the halfway mark at 18:27 at which point I could feel myself weakening. Somehow I managed to maintain a 3:40 pace for the next few kilometers.


The real shock came at the 9k mark when the course takes a U-turn and suddenly I spotted Namban teammate Bob Poulson right behind me. You have to realize that Bob is old -- very, very old. I am not even sure how old Bob is - when I joined the club I was told that Bob had originally come to Japan on Admiral Perry's Black Ships which would make him well over 100 years old.. Later I was told that Bob came to Japan even earlier than that -- walking across to Japan from Siberia during the last Ice Age when the oceans had retreated. These stories may be exaggerated, but in any case, Bob is much older than me.

So of course I pushed my legs as best I could over the last kilometer in order to stay ahead of the ancient one, and I managed to finish in 37:09 (slower than my half-marathon pace a year ago).

Now after all this seemingly negative talk, I should point out that I perceive the glass as being more than half full. The Edogawa event was a fine day. 25 teammates participated, 7 of them achieving personal bests. Everyone seemed to have a good time and I was glad to have played a small role in promoting the event. Moreover I managed to finish 8th in my age division and it was gratifying that I could be in the award ceremony at all given my low mileage training. (The Edogawa 10k award ceremony is a remarkable event in itself with the pageantry and ritual one would expect at the crowning of a new Roman Catholic Pope or Olympic opening ceremony).


Clearly cross-training allows me to maintain overall fitness. I know from past experience if I had not been doing the swimming and biking these past few months (or did nothing for more than 3 weeks) I would have been light years farther back.

Visit to Nike World HQ

I like to consider myself a loyal and devoted Asics person. But yesterday I found myself at Death Star, the Nike World Campus in Beaverton Oregon.

Years ago, when I was growing up in nearby Seattle and Nike was a small renegade company I was the company's biggest fan, and wore the original Pegasus, Equator, Cortez, and Waffle racer. But over the years the company's emphasis on marketing over product development, the ubiquity of the produce (12 million shoes sold last year in Japan alone), and the general arrogance of the Nike brand image has turned me anti-Nike. Especially after learning how Nike got its start by stealing Asic's product design, patenting the design in the US, and then turning around and filing a lawsuit against Asics.

Despite these strong feelings, I am willing to sell out on my beliefs at a cheap price -- 50% employee discount on the new Nike Air Equalon at the Nike Employee Store.

I must admit the Equalon's feel pretty good. I went for a test run around the Nike campus. The Nike campus is a pretty competitive corporate jogging trail. I was running at a reasonably good pace, but two female MBA-type marketing staff overtook me by the Alberto Salazar building.

The Nike workplace is amazing with a soft woodchip running trail meandering around the 178 acre site. The campus has an artificial lake at its center surrounded by buildings named after Nike athletes like Lance Armstrong, Mia Hamm etc. At the entrance is a museum with Steve Prefontaine's old shoes and jersey.

Of course I hope to get Ascis (or if necessary Saucony or Adidas) for my next racing flats.

Minimalist Run Training - Running two days per week

Thousands of runners (mostly lazy Americans) have completed a marathon based on a training regime of only three runs per week.   The serious runners in my Tokyo running team are appalled to hear of such half-hearted devotion to the sport.

As I start preparing for the fall race campaign I am doing even less than that.  Over the past several months my run training is down to only TWO workouts per week. 

Here is my recent weekly mileage (in kilometers, not miles)

July 30 - 8/5   - 26
Aug 6 -12      -  31
Aug 13-19     -  34
Aug 20-26     -  29   
Aug 27 -9/2   -  19    (Sado taper)
Sept 3-9       -   37   (Sado Triathlon)
Sept 10-16   -   17
Sept 17-23   -   28
Sept 24-30   -   18

Granted each week I am also doing 2-3 one-hour swim sessions and 1-3 bike rides/spin sessions.  This cross-training has so far allowed me to maintain a reasonably competitive level of speed and endurance . 

 

However as I struggled to run 6 x 1000 meters on Wednesday at a 3:22 average, I begun to wonder if the limited running is starting to have a negative impact on me.   
 

My top ten list of Japan running events

Here is quick ranking of my favorite running races in Japan. The reality is that I have only participated in perhaps 20-25 of the hundreds of events in Japan, so maybe the point I am trying to make is my need to get out more. This list is only composed of 5k to half-marathon distances (no ekidens, marathons or triathlons). Since all Japanese races are efficiently organized, race organization is less of a factor. Unique, scenic courses are the key criteria in this list:


1. Ohyama Tozan -
Upside - Unique challenging all uphill course. Great backpack given to all finishers. Convenient. Scenic. Crowd support.
Downside - All uphill. Finish is painful.





2. Kyoto Half-Marathon -
Upside - Its Kyoto - scenic course and good excuse for Shinkansen trip. Flat and fast.
Downside - Crowded. Expensive. Must register 4 months before race.



3. Montrail Ome 30k Trail Run -
Upside - Scenic forest trail. Cool Shinto ceremony in middle of race. Day of race entry Hilly.
Downside - Expensive. Hilly.




4. Fukuoka City Half-Marathon -
Upside - Good excuse for trip to Fukuoka. Cool stadium finish.
Downside - Much of course is through industrial area. Wind.




5. Edogawa -
Upside - 15 minutes from Tokyo station. Lots of Nambanners. Elaborate award ceremony. El Torrito.
Downside - Average scenery. U-turns and potential wind. El Torrito.


6. Ohtawara (10k)
Upside - Flat. Fast. Ryokan. Lots of Nambanners. Watching marathon before and after 10k.
Downside - Event held on midweek holiday. Not particularly scenic.


7. TELL Race -
Upside - Lots of prizes. Convenient. Day-of-race registration. Efficient charitable use of entry fee. Bob is in charge. Good t-shirt.
Downside - Just another run around Palace (where I frequently train).


8. Obuse Half-Marathon
Upside - Ryokan after the race. Playing in fountains at finish. Bands along the course.
Downside - Hot and humid. Lots of turns. Expensive and inconvenient from Tokyo.


9. Tachikawa Showa Kinen 10k
Upside - Flat. Fast. Competitive. Reasonably convenient. Race entirely in large, pleasant park.
Downside - Two loop course. Slightly expensive.


10. Fuji-Yoshida
Upside - Barbecue before race. Scenic weekend trip.
Downside - Running after barbecue. Inconvenient. Long downhill run section on pavement.