The True Grit

"The only thing that makes a sandwich better than adding avocado is bacon"
-K. Thomas McCool

While this is obviously not universally applicable to all beings, especially us vegans, though I'm sure Mr. McCool would argue different, I took his creed to heart, and this morning found myself tinkering around in the kitchen in an attempt to vegan-ize his carnivorous claim. The dish I came up with is what you see below. Consisting of curry potatoes, scrambled tofu (with knock-your-wooden-teeth-out-Mr.-Washington* fresh grated ginger), avocado, & veggie bacon. Of course, topped with fresh chopped I-can-not-tell-a-lie cherry (tree) tomatoes.

The True Grit: Anything + Avocado & (veggie) Bacon

*because if we know anything about US history, it's that George Washington's most memorable accomplishments in life were that he had wooden teeth and chased Moby-Dick; why else would they put him on the dollar bill and the quarter?

Snowshoe BBQ

I woke up feeling defeated before the day even had a chance to have at me. Not because of any injuries mind you, it's just that I looked at my Higdon schedule and saw 7 miles for the day, then I shifted my gaze out the window and saw far too much snow to get this task comfortably done. My next thought was to bother my aunt again by using her treadmill, but looking back at the Higdon schedule, it still said 7 miles for the day, and I don't know about you folks, but anything beyond 5 miles running in one place feels like you are mentally being thrown into the belly of an unforgiving Sarlacc pit, where you will learn a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over a thousand years. It was in this moment, my eyes drifted out the window once again, pondering, for no explicit reason, what Hart Crane wrote about the Brooklyn Bridge, when I saw a runner in the distance. "Good gawd man!" I exclaimed, hence the exclamation point, tugging on the cord to draw the venetian blinds even higher, exposing my room further to the blinding brilliance of sunlight reflecting off of the snowy lawn below. "If he's running, I can run!" I watched him bobbing into view like a cryptozoologist studying an elusive half man-cheetah hybrid that stalks its prey on the Serengeti plains. This beast seemed to move effortlessly despite the mounds of snow that surrounded his path. Excitement coursed through my veins, for today, there would be no defeat!

I threw on a few key layers to combat the winter weather, and for the first time ever stuffed an ipod nano in my pocket and away from the window I flew like a flash, without tearing open the shutters or throwing open the sash. I made my way out to the street, and things seemed OK. The sidewalk I could see was spotted with snow and ice patches, but it wasn't enough to dissuade me. I hit shuffle and was off. As soon as I turned the corner I immediately ran into my first stretch of non-shoveled walkway. A quick glance back for traffic and a spry sidelong bunny hop put me in the wet, but snow free, street. This maneuver would be repeated throughout the run, because apparently not everyone in my neighborhood is a good samaritan when it comes to snow removal. I ran a 3 mile loop, at first, with the idea of keeping close to home incase I slipped on an ice patch and had to drag myself back to my doorstep (technically counting that, if it were to happen, as cross training). The next loop was 3 miles too, but in a different direction, and it worked out even better, leaving me cursing under my frigid breath about how I should have chosen this way first. I ended the 7 miles after two 3 mile loops with a 1 mile "victory" lap to round out the distance. Now the downside to all this was my own misjudgment in the shoes I chose to wear, which were an older pair that had maybe already seen too many miles for their own good. I just didn't want to introduce my new ones to the harsh elements just yet, leaving me with a pain in my foot after a 7 mile obstacle course of snow mounds and ice patches. It's not anything readily debilitating, but I am concerned over how I'll pull off a 15 mile run on Saturday if most of this winter wonderland hasn't been melted away. We'll see how things go, I'm sure it will work out...

During the run I had the nano on shuffle, and it was really knocking it out of the park with what it was randomly selecting for my listening pleasure. I realize having less GB means having a higher rate of likable albums for shuffle to snatch songs from, but the songs were really phenomenal. Uncanny, really, in some of the relevance in tempo as well as lyrical content; almost as if the machine KNEW what I was doing at that exact moment and wanted me to be aware of it. I've been pretty much an unadorned runner up until this point, relying mostly on the sounds of nature to pass the time, but now that the miles are getting longer in the tooth, having the soothing sounds of musical whimsy to join me in the endeavor is somewhat comforting. Simply put: I've been won over. Now to get crackin' on that marathon playlist...

Snowpocalypse Now! 2010.

Marathon training just got a little more complicated...

A Very Vegan Christmas

I knew it is was going to happen before it even began to not happen; it was risky to push, by saphire, every precious thing I had to do for the day into one morning and have great expectations for everything to come out on top of the cloud atlas, next to the man in the high castle, but I'm a risk taker, sometimes, though much more of a procrastinator, which usually equates to being risky, though I suppose far less noble if you compare the intent, and things turned out just as I had suspected: less than zero (in the running department at least). Today was supposed to be a 10 mile taper run, but falling on a holiday, "why it's Christmas day, sir", there just wasn't a wrinkle in time to spare in spending the hour and a half (to nearly 2 hours, depending on how every who down in whoville was doing) on an odyssey  away from the animal farm  that the run would require. It was somewhat of a catch-22 day, but I spent the morning instead of exercising to become the marathon man, preparing a moveable feast of tofurkey, with the last minute improvised addition of sweet potato wedges and asparagus to round out the veggie base. I immediately followed up with a special recipe I've perfected for vegan apple pie. It all turned out rather good, and though only myself and my aunt dug into the tofurkey, the entire family enjoyed the apple pie. So, things on the food front where somewhat successful. See for yourselves...

 Tofurkey with Sweet Potato Wedges & Asparagus 

That's Right! Sweet-Sweet Vegan Apple Pie

Now I feel terrible for missing out on my LSD run for the week, and though I had planned to take my 10 mile electric kool-aide acid test, like Jack Kerouac, on the road tomorrow, instead, all the forecasts are calling for heavy snow falling on cedars. Tender is the night, so even if the sun also rises, and I grab a breakfast of champions, I might not have the option. Though, I am slightly excited for the potential of going into the wild, where the wild things are, and sledding as an alternative to my normal cross training routine. We'll just have to wait & see what is the what come morning. So this is what I talk about when I talk about running, maybe white christmas is really a white boxing day this year...but who knows, in the snow, you get so alone at times that it just makes sense. 


Happy Christmas All! 

One Whacky Week

So week 9 is technically a tapper week, however, we're far enough along in training that 10 miles constitutes a shorter distance. This is also the first week that every day was a different distance (3-7-4-10), losing some of the much treasured consistency from the 3 milers that used to serve as the whole grain bread in the Wednesday hard run special sandwich.

This past weekend was the farthest I had ever run: 13.1 miles. I bumped up the run to .1 just to round out the exact half marathon measurement. I attacked the distance in four easily digestible 3 mile loops, with the victory lap of 1.1 miles around the neighborhood. I again kept a cache of water and gatorade in my makeshift water station, and made out quite alright in the process. To say it was chilly would be an understatement, but weather wise, it wasn't all that terrible. I dressed far more appropriately for this jaunt than I had done earlier in the week, and indeed got myself a fine pair of running tights for the occasion.

Onto the running...

Rhythm Method: Neutral Milk Hotel "Holland, 1945"

The saddest thing about reading any description about Neutral Milk Hotel is that it inevitably starts with line "Neutral Milk Hotel was...", putting this band in the past tense, which yokes my heart with rusty tin buckets filled with lead-laden tears of sorrow for not having them around anymore. Though, back in 2008, Jeff Mangum did make appearances with the Elephant 6 Orchestra tour, so who knows what possibilities the future may yet hold?

This song, Holland, 1945, is a handwritten lovelorn letter on rolled up parchment with fresh dipped fountain pen ink smeared on the hand reaching back in time to leave a trail of white roses around the unfortunate struggles and lost life of Anne Frank and her family off of the album In an Aeroplane Over the Sea, quite possibly a near perfect album, if there ever was one, which there is, and it's called London Calling. Resting somewhere between the fuzzy line of punk and folk roots, this is certainly one of the more raucous songs from said album. Conveniently, this video includes the lyrics, which are certainly worth the time to puzzle through while running, if you so desire.

Hey Hey Kids!

I apologize upfront for my lack of participation in the posts this week. FINALS! have taken over my life at the moment. Though, I have kept up on the Higdon running schedule.

Yesterday was a 6 miler, smack-dab in the middle of week 8, and it was colder than Hoth outside. I layered up, almost to an ignorantly overcautious amount, and trotted out the door into 23°F (-5°C) temperature like a true champion steed ready to take down the distance with gusto. At first I was pleased as Hawaiian Punch with my choice in clothing, since the small exposed fleshy oval of my hooded face was bitter about the wicked wind chill tearing up eyes and blushing my cheeks. But that was soon to change...

My trotting soon turned to plodding as the muscles in my legs were just immediately exhausted. I'm not exactly sure why that happened. The previous day's 3 miler wasn't anything like interstellar overdrive (on the treadmill the 3 mile breakdown from Tuesday was as follows: 1) 9:46 2) 7:59 3) 7:38, with a .5 mile walk at the end), so I couldn't have worn myself out from that. And since I waited to run in the afternoon, secretly hoping the sun would help warm up the day, as it's known to do from time to time, I had somewhat of a substantial brunch kicking around in the fuel tank from hours before. Go Banana!

So my pace felt stilted, and I wondered if it was the constriction of the amount of layers I had draped over my person to avoid the torturous tundra outside. Because I've always taken to heart what the Wu-Tang Clan once said, "protect ya neck kid", the only part of me without excessive wardrobe were my feet, and my toes were forming into effin ice cubes inside the tray of my Nike Voremos. But for the astute long distance runners out there, you may take one look at that 6 mile distance, and realize, I was dressed for success, the wrong way.

The arctic conditions soon became a sweat factory exporting the products fastened together by the tiny fingers of a migrant population of my smothered glands into the multi-layered nations of my clothing. The gloves were the first to go, then the cap, heat was just pouring out my sleeves like an active volcano waiting to erupt. I thought about ditching a layer or two in a bush along the way, then circling back for it on Schwinny Cooper after the run, but I didn't want to face the possible repercussions of being caught in a bush taking my clothes off; no matter how I explain it, I just don't think they'd buy it, though "For real, I have a running blog" crossed my mind as a plausible defense. So I sweated out the remainder of the run, vowing next time, I'd come less prepared.

The run was slow because, to say I was fatigued seems like an understatement, I felt really bogged down for the entire 6 mile course; my leg muscles just wouldn't put out the effort that my mind wanted from them. My best guess for average mile time is about just under a 10 min. pace, because an hour had passed on the microwave clock from the time I left the apartment to the time I got back. The most extreme hills came towards the end, when I was really coasting on fumes, so that did nothing to bolster my confidence about finishing the distance, though I did in the end without stopping.

The cold air made it hard to breath, as if I was drowning in a block of ice, and indeed, later at night I felt the itch in the back of my throat, whose discomfort has now turned into a full blown sore throat the morning after. I've been combating this with green tea, lots of it, hoping for a quick comfortable recovery. Only time will tell. Though, today's 3 mile run will certainly be accomplished on a treadmill in the relative warmth of my Aunt's basement.

Broke the 8:00/mile seal

Tokyo, Week 8, Day 3; 6 miles, 7:50/mile.

Last night I went running around 11:30 or so, so I got back at like midnight. This morning, I had time to run in the morning and, knowing I'd likely have work at night, I went out for today's 6-miler less than 9 hours after yesterday's run. Given the short recovery time and the three additional miles, I was aiming to match my 8:12/mile pace from last night.

I went out at my typical "fast Wednesday" standard; I ran fast enough so that I could not speak comfortably. I overall felt pretty good throughout the run. Besides the required stops (i.e., traffic lights at big streets), I walked for about 10 seconds at the half-way point, and that was it (although, to be fair, I was kind of hoping for red lights during the last half of the workout). The third quarter of the run was, as is typical, the toughest, and I felt like I was going very slow. I wouldn't have been surprised with a 9:00/mile pace, but I'm pretty sure I was going faster than that, given my ultimate average pace.

Given how I felt in the third quarter of the run, I wouldn't have been surprised with not having met my goal of at least matching yesterday's pace of 8:12/mile, so I was glad to see a final pace of 7:50/mile.

Hoping for an easy pace below 8:00/mile

Tokyo, Week 8, Day 2; 3 miles, 8:12/mile.

A morning run was a no-go today, but I managed to sneak in a run at night while working from home at around 11 p.m.

I wasn't feeling too bad (even though cross training on Sunday got dumped due to work) and it was a comfortable 55ºF (13ºC) outside with none of the rain that we've had over the past few days. When I looked up what my run should be, I was a little disappointed that it was only 3 miles; because I haven't run for a while on a Tuesday, I thought the jump up to 4 might have already occurred, but I'm still at three, which feels like nothing at this point. In any case, I was in good spirits for a run.

Going out along one of my normal routes, I thought I was feeling Saturday's run during the first half mile or so, with my body kind of creaking along. When I got to close to finishing my first half mile, I checked the distance on my iPod (just to make sure it wasn't all messed up like on Saturday), and it wasn't.

However, it also told me that my pace was only 9:07/mile. Thinking about that now, on that course I hit the half mile point while going up a pretty steep hill, so the pace probably wasn't unreasonable, but my reaction during the run was, "Why am I going so damn slow?!", so I made it a point to pick up the pace, while keeping it at a pace at which I could talk.

At the end of the run, I expected to average out to somewhere around 8:30 or 8:40 per mile, so I was a little shocked when my average pace came out to 8:12/mile. In case you haven't noticed a pattern yet, I seem to run at a pace that's consistently faster than the pace I think I'm running at.

So I wonder what the chances are of me getting all my runs below 8:00/mile. The iPod clocked me at a 6:59/mile pace at the mile marker, but to be fair that was while going down a hill. Still, 8:12/mile isn't all that far from getting me below 8:00/mile, and I've got still got almost 11 weeks of training left to give it a go.

Why work kills my running time

This is pretty much why I always find it so hard to run during the work week.

Tempting injury, but getting through the run

Tokyo, Week 6, Day 7; A hour or so on a bike.
Tokyo, Week 7, Day 6; ~13 miles, ~9:00/mile.

While Joe continues his battle with a variety of injuries, I continue my battle with not having time to run. This week work totally pwned my running time. I was barely able to scrape up 2 or 3 hours of sleep each night, much less find the time to get out for a run. The end result was that I didn't run at all during the work week.

Last night was another late night because of work, so I didn't get to bed until like 6 a.m. Luckily, I had basically cleared off my work plate and could finally catch up on sleep. When I woke up at 3:30 p.m., feeling refreshed, it was time to go out for a run.

At the outset of the run, it didn't look like things we going to be pretty.

• I hadn't done any sort of meaningful exercise since last Sunday, when I did a nice long bike ride.
• The 12-mile (19.3-kilometer) run today was to be the longest run yet.
• My route today (to and back from Ueno Park) was a new one, so there was a risk of messing things up.
• I hadn't eaten anything since like 2 a.m. the night before, more than 12 hours before I left the gate.
• I hadn't drank anything since the same time.

In fact, the only thing I really had going for me was that the weather was nice; it was about 65ºF (18ºC) outside and sunny. (Yes, on December 11, that's how hot it was.)

And then there were all the things that went wrong during the run…

• Unsurprisingly, I got totally lost. This extended my total route by something like 4 miles (two out and two back) and, in addition to needing to stop regularly to cross streets as usual, I had to stop constantly to consult with maps and with police officers in kobans.
• My Nike+ iPod set-up decided to go totally whack on me. For the first chunk of my run, it clocked me running at about 20 minutes per mile (12.4 minutes per kilometer), which was undoubtedly more than twice as slow as I was actually running. It seemed to have fixed itself after that, with current-pace checks putting it at 8-something or 9-something per mile, but then it did this annoying thing where, when I pressed the button to pause and then restart the workout, it ended my workout. It did that twice, breaking my workout into three segments. However, only two of the segments appear to have been recorded; the first, including that dirt-slow incorrect pace, and a short distance towards the very end.
• I barely managed to keep a side stitch at bay for much of the latter half of the run.
• I became ravenously thirsty and could do nothing but think of water towards the end of the run.
• I fought off some weird tightness in a groin tendon that kept me from running for the last few miles (after I had already ran the 12 I set out to do).

Sure enough, it wasn't pretty.

A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far Far Away...

It's been awhile, and a number of things have contributed to that, but none more so than a computer failure at the start of finals week...Now that I have the computer back I should be catching up on the finals that still remain, but I thought a quick recap post was necessary since tomorrow is somewhat significant: Week 7's 12 mile LSD run!

Week 6 was going great for days 2, 3, & 4, and day 5, the rest day, was going well, right up until the point a leg cramp nailed my left calf as I was sitting there, per Higdon's instructions, resting. I had just watched a movie and was sitting reclined in a chair when leviathan arose from the depths of torpid sea creating a maelstrom of malevolence in his wakeful wake. He sunk his demon teeth into my calf muscle and tried with all the might in his monstrous jowls to separate the muscle from around my bones. This was a debilitating pain that had me nearly teary eyed (or was it the movie I had been watching?) for about a minute or two there was nothing I could do but ride out the brutal contraction, and silently pray for the beast to return from whence it came. Like George Harrison once said, all things must pass, and this did, but the ripples left by leviathan had me limping to the kitchen to grab a banana and as much water as I could gulp down my gullet. Up until this moment I thought I had been being cautious enough with my nutrient intake, so when I eventually had computer access I checked the main reasons Mr. Charley Horse stops by unannounced and crashes the party.

1) muscle fatigue 2) heavy exercise 3) dehydration 4) electrolyte imbalance

Well heck, 1 & 2 are basically twins, and 3 & 4 are cousins, once removed. I made the decision to heed the warnings of my Aunt and not to run the 7 mile tapper LSD the following day. I could barely walk for the rest of the weekend, so Sunday's cross training was limited to a brief half hour stroll through the cold dark streets of Oreland at night while listening to Thee Oh Sees. To make all of this a little bit worse, my foot pain has yet to relinquish its stake in my right foot. This, I have found through my amateur deductions, could be one of three culprits as well: 1) plantar fasciitis 2) heel spurs 3) stress fracture. Each one is progressively worse than the last. I guess we'll see what happens after this weekend's 12 mile LSD. Let's hope for the best.


week 7, other than the foot pain, has been relatively uneventful. I've been eating a banana daily, drinking gatorade and coconut water (great source of natural electrolytes), as well as being conscious of taking in more water as I run, something I've pretty much ignored by and large in training thus far, because it's kind of a hassle. Treadmill runs make that feat a whole hell of a lot easier, but tomorrow's 12 miler is formed into a perfect 4 mile loop around my neighborhood. I've tried to avoid as many hills as possible, though there's still one unavoidable large one, and I'll be stashing water on the front seat of my car for easy access. The cold cold wind is surely not going to make this a fun day, but it must be done. I had to skip Thursday's 3 miler, but since I was in NYC for the day and walking so much, I can at least count it as a cross training session. Well, there was also the sprinting for the Bolt bus home, that we made with barely 5 minutes to spare, that could count towards speed work. Here I will admit that I was almost put to shame by a non-runner, who was driven by the pure fear sparked adrenaline of being stuck at night in the freezing cold of Manhattan and having to seek shelter in Central Park's Belvedere Castle, as she almost dusted me down west 33rd street. In practicality, I think I was just laughing to hard to keep a good pace. (SIDE NOTE: If ever in NYC, I highly recommend Teany's and the Candle Cafe to meet and exceed all your vegan needs. At the Candle Cafe, the decadent chocolate cake is pretty much the awesomest thing you will ever put in your mouth.)

Anyway, back to finals. I'll try to check in with you kids after the 12 miler tomorrow. Be well...

Work dominates again, but pace keeps going down

Tokyo, Week 5, Day 7; 30-minute walk.
Tokyo, Week 6, Day 2; 3 miles, 8:38/mile.
Tokyo, Week 6, Day 6; 7 miles, 8:18/mile.

Last week, after work took a bite out of my running time, I ended up doing my running and cross training only on Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. This week, after work took a bite out of my running time, I ended up doing my running and cross training only on Tuesday, Saturday and (if all goes as planned) Sunday. This upcoming week, I'm hoping to break out of the pattern and get a full week of runs in, but I make no promises.

I ended last week with a 30-minute walk. I had been planning a nice long bike ride, but I got lazy so I decided I'd just do a walk on the cross training day. Once again, I brought my eldest daughter along for the trip (on her bike), but I also thought I'd bring my youngest along in her stroller. That worked well until, about 10 minutes out, she didn't like the headwind blowing in her face and started crying. My biking daughter at that point was way ahead of us, so I couldn't just turn around, but had to keep going with a crying baby through Shirokanedai until I could catch up to the biker. The baby didn't stop crying until we got home, but that didn't prevent the cross training from working its magic; I was much less sore after it than before.

The week kicked off on a typical day off, and then on Tuesday I went out for an easy three miles. The Wednesday and Thursday runs got displaced (and the back-up day of Friday was not available), so that brings me to today.

Today I didn't manage to get in a run until just around the time it was getting dark. I went out at a pace that felt comfortable, but I think there were a few things that were making me push things a bit. The first was that, because I hadn't run for a few days, I felt like I needed to get in a better run than I would have otherwise. The second was impatience; I saw my wife cooking up some pakora as I was leaving, and it looked good so I wanted to get back to eat that. (That's the joy of training based on distance rather than time; run faster and you're done sooner.) And the third was that I didn't want to break the sub-9:00/mile seal that I put on my easy runs a few weeks back.

The result was 8:18/mile, and I can't say I felt like I was really pushing it during the run, or that I'm tired afterwards. It does seem kind of odd to me though that I'm running less but my pace continues to drop.

Double Digits

The 9 miles (14.5k) last week felt like more than the 10 miles (16.1k) this week, so I guess that's a sign that Higdon's training schedule is working. Coming up next for week 6 is another tapper week. I'm looking forward to that, not only for the lessening of the physical toll of training, but also because I'm gearing up for finals week and there's a whole hell of a lot of work to get done in a relatively short period of time, hopefully my two main tasks at hand, running & classes, can peacefully coincide for just a little bit longer. 


While 10 miles is the longest run of the training schedule so far, I had done a few 10 milers over the summer, just out of curiosity to see if I was capable. So I'll admit here, as a first time marathoner in training, the 10 mile mark is the farthest I've ever gone. One thing I learned from doing it before, that I wanted to make sure I did this time, was to have a "water station" set up along my run. So I mapped out a 10 mile route that occasionally looped back around to my apartment, where I had a container of water stashed on the front seat of my car. This idea actually worked quite well, but in order to accomplish this, I probably faced more hills than I needed to, but I suppose facing those now will give me some extra speed when the flat-ish city course for Tokyo is at foot. I definitely perked up when I knew the water stop was waiting right around the corner, so I really appreciated this extra incentive along the way. For the 12 mile (19.3k) LSD in 2 weeks, I'm going to try to plan out these water station stops at every 4 miles. 


Now, my knees did OK for this run, and when I was finished I did the normal stretches that I've come to stand by as a solid repertoire for my personal needs, but while I was walking around downtown doing some holiday shopping later in the afternoon, I noticed my right foot, at about the middle outside point, was in pain. Indeed this pain, while less severe, is still present this morning. I didn't get a chance to do the old Hot Tub Time Machine treatment on my bones that I mentioned being a fan of for last week's LSD, so I'm wondering if this was a crucial step to quick recovery that I shouldn't so hastily pass up? On the plus side, I'm nowhere near as sore as I was last week, and the foot issue shouldn't really hinder today's bicycling cross training. Then tomorrow is a rest day...the sweetest way to start any week!  

Tokyo Marathon, you are mine

I would be negligent if I didn't tell you that this week I found out that I did in fact make it through the raffle to get a spot in the Tokyo Marathon. The raffle gods must have approved of this blog.

My first reaction was to send an all caps email to Joe and my wife, so let's just say that I'm pretty pumped about actually making it in.

All work and no run makes me a sore boy

Tokyo, Week 5, Day 2; 3 miles, 8:56/mile.
Tokyo, Week 5, Day 6; 10 miles, 8:52/mile.

I got in a nice run on Tuesday (a day off here), but after that my running got sacrificed at the altar of employment until the long run today.

So, after last week's bike failure, I finally made it to Yoyogi Park today, after figuring out exactly which little street I needed to go down from the Azabu area. That took me through Omotesando and right to the park.

The park's about 3 miles from my apartment, so there and back took up about 6 miles. To cover the rest, I made an ad hoc loop through the park that apparently was something over a mile long, because after 3 loops and some change I had all the distance I needed and headed back. While running, I felt a lot sorer than I have in previous weeks, which I suspect is a function of my lack of running during the week.

Looking on the bright side, I seem to have left 9:00/miles in the past, as I was hoping. Given that today was my longest run and I managed to come in under 9:00/mile, hopefully I'll be able to maintain, if not improve, on that pace.

Of course, it'd be helpful if work was more cooperative with my running schedule...

Rhythm Method: The Go! Team "Junior Kickstart"

A running themed video with a song that reaches almost Rocky-like heights of triumphant inspiration, why wouldn't this be a rhythm method contender? The Go! Team, from England, takes the aesthetic of your uncle Leon building a robot in the garage out of bits and pieces he finds on those weekend excursions when he goes, as your mother would say, "Gawd knows where?", all the while listening to old cassette tape mixes blasting out of the beat up speakers of a boombox he used to sling over his shoulder when he went, as his mother used to say, "Gawd knows where?", in those halcyon nights of his youth. It's odd how much of uncle Leon's life seems to be unaccounted for...every time in the past, when asked about where he learned his robot building skill, he leans back in his chair, clasps his hands behind his head, and with a shark fin grin, he simply says "NASA". If you like the song Junior Kickstart you can find lots more peppy goodness on their debut full length Thunder, Lightning, Strike album from which this track came from.

A White Thanksgiving

The first snow fall of the season and it happened on Thanksgiving morning during my 3 mile run. Today was an easy pace, but the cold winds and big coarse flakes, that I was breathing in, made it slightly more challenging than it should have been. I love the feeling of pure solitude when running in the fresh falling snow, listening to the snap crackle pop! of it landing upon itself and accumulating on the sprawl of suburban lawns as I breeze by wrapped in my own world. The snow didn't last long, and later in the day it just turned into bitter cold rain, so it feels like, in a way, I lucked out with just the flurries.

Later in the day I sat down with a tofurkey and a vegan pumpkin pie I had picked up the night before from Whole Foods. Normally, for the holidays I bake my own vegan apple pie, but I just didn't have the time for it this Thanksgiving, but maybe for Christmas I'll treat myself! Gobble Gobble folks!

And of course by the time I got around to taking a photo of the vegan pumpkin pie it was already half gone, so forgiveness please. 

Continuing Comfortability

Another day of treadmill running. I took on an easy 3(.54 walking bookends) miles today, borrowing the use of my Aunt's treadmill because it looked like rain clouds were a coming. My second motive for running in place like a hamster on a wheel was, since this is the official start of week 5, to check my mile times on the clock, just to see how my comfortable pace is stacking up to, what could loosely be defined as, quickness. 


So, without further ado, I present to you, my mile times for today's easy 3:
1st mile: 9:36 min.
2nd mile: 7:47 min.
3rd mile: 7:39 min. 


Mile one, as I think I've mentioned before, is usually a warm up mile for my treadmill runs. I sorta have to get used to being on that thing before I really start gunning it to 88mph. I was surprised that mile 3 wasn't quicker, because it felt like it should have been, not because I was tired or anything, because I was 元気 (in fact, in a fit of nostalgia, I found myself singing along to Op Ivy throughout the run; there's no questioning the conversational pace I was maintaining), but because I just thought my legs were moving faster. We'll see how things go. I don't think it's too far out of an idea to shave my comfortable pace down to under 7's in the near future. Ultimately I'm not really trying to break any marathon records here, I just want the endurance to finish it, so speed isn't necessarily a major goal in my training, though a little bit more of it would be nice.  

Rocky IV, Need I Say More?

I know a while ago the comment board for The Curious Kayaker post lit up with a heated debate over which would be better for cross training, kayaking the open pacific to Japan (with a stop over in Hawaii), or island hoping from Alaska to Russia. So, I bring to you today, straight from the annals of Rocky history, pure unadulterated montage!

Sore sure, But Otherwise A-OK

I woke up this morning feeling like while I slumbered the night away mafia goons were busy burying my legs in wet cement, ready to push me off a pier into choppy waved water where I would be swimming with the fishes for my cross training activity of the day. I quickly went down the list of intergalactic gangsters I may have recently wronged, but came up with zilch, giving me no real reason to believe the Hutts placed a bounty on my head and somewhere along the way my legs were encased in carbonite as a dry run to test the capabilities of the carbonite capturing equipment. The soreness I was feeling, was just the normal repercussions of muscles made to move for excessive distances. Phew...  

So in the afternoon, tired, yet more importantly, pain free, I had errands to run, and decided to meld cross training in with them, getting things done in one fell swoop of productivity! I peddled to the library (about a 2 mile ride), to return John Adams (which I thought was great!), then Schwinny Cooper and I decided to take the long way home together. Part of the motivation here was to scope out what lies beyond the parameter of my normal running paths. Sure, I'm aware of the area, and Google Maps is certainly aware of the area too, but I wanted a clearer idea of the terrain for the 10 miles coming up next Saturday (not to mention some of the more daunting miles from there on out). Most of the areas I rode through were hilly, and you might think that is not so much of a problem on a 12 speed road bike, and in a normal circumstance I'd agree, but, and I believe I've mentioned this before, my bike is a rolling calamity waiting to happen. My 12 speed is basically rendered a 3 speed, because every time I switch gears beyond that limited base, the chain pops off. So considering I'm not a cyclist, taking on hills with no more than a 3 gear range really was a bit of effort. 

This is probably common sense to everyone else, but one of the first things I realized today, as the cold tipped daggers of wind were whipping the Scottish blood beneath my face into a frozen fury fueled frenzy, if I'm going to continue cycling through the winter months, gloves & cycling pants will become creature comforts well worth investing in. The ride ended up being about 6.5 miles. My legs felt like they had put in a good day's work, though I probably could have gone a bit farther, I really didn't want to push it. I'll probably go for a brisk walk later in the evening, just to balance out the cross training a bit more. With that, week 4 ends...so it goes. 

Cross training: Failing to reach Yoyogi and dance party with offspring

Tokyo, Week 4, Day 7; Maybe 7 or 8 miles on a bike + some groovin'.

Today was cross training day once again, and I didn't manage to get around to it until around 4:30, as it was already starting to get dark. Not particularly enthusiastic about riding around in traffic at dusk, but not feeling like walking again and actually kind of eager to get out into the 16ºC (60ºF) temps we've had tonight (and still have as I write this around 9 p.m.; do I need to remind anyone that it's practically December?), I geared up and went out the door.

My gear was basically my typical running gear, less the iPod so I can hear traffic, plus a helmet and a reflective vest that I wear when running at night. The helmet came as part of a set of skateboarding pads, so it's clearly not a biking helmet. On top of that, it has some corny logo on the side that a 12-year-old kid might think is totally bodacious, so I was truly rocking it. The reflective thing looks goofy on a good day, so it's that much worse when I'm wearing the I'm-a-runner-who's-cross-training-on-a-bike get-up.

To the average person, I probably look pretty serious. I'm wearing a helmet and, despite Japan being anal about safety in just about every other facet of life, the only people ever wearing helmets on a bike are small kids. So, basically, if you're wearing a helmet you're either hardcore or you're paranoid. I've got long-sleeve Underarmour leggings crawling to my wrists and ankles. And I'm always pedaling; I figure that I'm cross training so even when I could coast down hill I pedal—even if that means I need to ride the brake at the same time.

To a person who actually bikes, however, I probably look pretty ridiculous. My bike is a ¥10,000-yen (or about $100-dollar) mountain bike from a department store, complete with a basket on the front. Come to think of it, that might be a giveaway to your average Tanaka that I really have no clue what I'm doing on a bike, but it's a convenient place to store my GPS navigation system (i.e., Google Maps on my iPhone), so I ain't parting with it.

Today's goal was to do a dry run to Yoyogi Park, the destination of my long run next week. I looked it up on Google Maps before I left, and it seemed pretty straightforward. I just had to head the same way towards the grave yard, but take a road to the left instead of the road to the right that leads to the graveyard. Didn't work out quite like that though.

First I rode a bit down the road towards the graveyard. Once I recognized what I had done, I rode down to the next light and crossed the street so I could go with the flow of traffic. Heading back, I made a right and knew I'd have to make another right almost right away. However, thinking I'd be going onto a big street, I skipped the numerous tiny little streets and made a right at the next light. I think that was what threw me off; I should have been going down one of those small streets.

Anywho, that led me to zigzagging through Tokyo, checking the GPS occasionally. However, the not-so-accurate compass plus directions that always started with "Go southeast" or something like that left me less than sure as to where I was. Eventually I made my way over to Shibuya, one of Tokyo's approximations of New York's Times Square, but with fewer tourists and many locals there to hang out. I got stuck at the light as thousands of people crossed the main intersection in front of me, and I seemed to have been the lone person on a bike traipsing through that particular section of urban jungle.

I rode around a bit more until I realized via Google Maps that it would now be a pain to get to Yoyogi, so I just decided to head home. The path took me through Ebisu and ultimately linked me up to one of the routes I've been running for those easy 3-milers that have been in the schedule over the past few weeks.

After I got home, I still didn't find myself particularly tired, and when my kids (ages 6 and about 3, plus the wee little one who found herself caught up in the chaos) wanted to play music and dance, I found myself part of their little plans. We were dancing around the room for maybe 45 minutes or something, and I strangely found that I worked up about as much of a sweat as I had while biking (although that is probably explained by my kids wanting me to dance while carrying one of them on each of my shoulders).

After it all, I'm feeling pretty good and I kind of wish I had a run tomorrow morning (it's an off day), but I s'pose I'll rest up and what I can make of it on Tuesday.

Everything's Coming Up Milhouse!

Today was a 9 miler, which was the longest run so far, and, I have to honestly say, it felt like it. Not at first, but somewhere after the 6th mile the rivets lining my steam powered stature started unhinging. My feet felt numb, I knew that couldn't be a good thing, and my knee(s) started lighting up like the Christmas tree at Rockefeller center. I pushed forward though, subtly tweaking my form until I met a balance that teetered on a precipice of discomfort and numbness. I doubt very much I should have kept going, even Hal recommends walking breaks if need be, but I knew if I stopped at any point I'd feel defeated, and mope my way home, head hanging in front of my hunched shoulders with the weight of my worrisome woes throwing off my center of gravity. I also knew walking would just take longer to get home, and if my leg was going to hurt either way, I wanted to choo-choo-choose the method of movement that got me there faster. So for about 2 miles it was a battle, not entirely unlike Rocky Vs. Drago, of revisions and resignations, but by the 8th mile, the flames of the campfire that had been toasting my marshmallow knees faded into a tolerable pit of smoldering acquiescence, and things became easier. 

At the tail end of the 9 miles I passed my cousin and my littler cousin, biking to the park. As much as I wanted to stop and chat, I knew if I broke my stride there I'd be wobbling the rest of the way home on new born colt legs. So I had a quick passing conversation, realizing I wasn't nearly in as bad of a shape as I had thought. I think seeing the little guy peddling along in his bright blue curious george hat kind of perked me up for a strong finish. 

I did something out of the ordinary when I got home. I iced my knees right away. I skipped the stretching (for the moment), and went with just the ice ice baby. I ate a small post-run snack: cashews and a banana. Then I filled the tub with molten lava (water), submerging my knees into the blissful burning liquid. I was feeling fatigued to begin with, but this scenario just invited lethargy to spend the night. Afterwards, while my muscles were completely loose and limber, I dove into the deep end of the normal stretching routine I've been applying for the last 2 weeks(? [has it really been 2 weeks? Is this really the end of week 4? Though I feel good about today, after completing the run, I wonder if I'll really be ready for the marathon in another 14 weeks, it seems too soon already, and I've only done 9 miles at one time!]). So, this hot water treatment, though not entirely revelatory, is definitely something I'm going to consider implementing on the long run days ahead. Yea, I'm feeling exhausted, but not altogether beat. 

Tomorrow is the Philadelphia Marathon, so good luck to y'all involved at an level of participation in it. I slept on registering for the half-marathon, and thus missed the opportunity to run in it. But if I had made it in, I definitely would have had to alter my current training schedule, because I couldn't really imagine racing 13.1 miles just yet. Soon enough, though...soon enough.       

Hoping to leave 9:00 miles in the past

Tokyo, Week 4, Day 4; 3 miles, 8:59/mile.
Tokyo, Week 4, Day 5; 9 miles, 9:07/mile.

On Thursday, I went out at an easy-peasy pace, and ended up with 8:59/mile. Getting my easy-peasy pace down below 9:00/mile is a little mini goal I've been looking forward to.

Today's 9 miler, the longest run yet in this training schedule, is hopefully a sign that I'm almost there. I came in at 9:07 per mile, when I thought that I was going to be closer to 9:30.

The route was a light and easy run from my daughter's school (dropped her off for some Saturday morning sports), through some graveyard and then back home.

Using my patented Find a Park by Zooming Out on Google Maps™ method, I saw this big green blob on the map and thought that that would be a good place to run. When I finally reached it (at exactly a mile in), there were steps up into it before I could see what it actually was. I ran up the steps to find myself in a graveyard, and not only was I in a graveyard, but I was in a place where there wasn't really a path, so I was basically running in the grass behind some graves. Thinking there was probably something distasteful about doing that, especially after running past a family that was visiting a grave, I hugged the inside perimeter until I found another way out, a few hundred meters down.

After that, I basically ran in a figure-8 pattern, running along the outer perimeter of the graveyard and down a small road that bisected the entire graveyard. I kept repeating that pattern until I had just enough distance left for the run home, and then I headed back. Now that the run's over, I don't really feel all that tired at all, so maybe next week I'll push it a wee bit harder and see if I can leave paces that are 9:00/mile or slower in the past.

If I can do that consistently, that'll at least mean I'll run better than 4 hours for a marathon.

Rhythm Method: Blonde Redhead "Equus"

So for much of Blonde Redhead's existence they've functioned as a trio, and indeed, the current lineup still consists of 3 members: Kazu Makino, and the Pace twins, Amedeo & Simone. I suppose depending on which album you put on, you'll be getting a slightly different version of their sound, as they've evolved over the past 15 years into something far more ethereal than their art-punk roots would have you believe. This song comes from Misery is a Butterfly, an album that straddles their mid to later period sounds and exemplifies much of what they do best: Minor-key noise, with a sweetly dark atmosphere. If you're more familiar with their newer material, this rather straight forward rocker here might come as a bit of a surprise, indeed, there are certainly still some fangs to this sharp-toothed smile. 


Some may find Equus a startlingly creepy video, and it is, but Kazu wrote much of the material for Misery is a Butterfly while recovering from being trampled by a horse. That tidbit of info might key you in on many of the themes present here. Regardless, Blonde Redhead has been a long time favorite, and Equus is a top quality running song. 



Watch Blonde redhead, Equus in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

A Neat Treat for the Feet

All kinds of sweet sweet goodness occurred today (No, no, I'm not making vegan apple pie until next week folks). It all started with the arrival of my new running shoes. This is my first new pair since mid-July, and they swooped in just in the nick of time to save the day; seeing that recently I've been tiptoeing on a tightrope stretched across a pain-filled pool of piranhas nipping at my dangling participles. I was worried that I was heading toward calamity island midway through week 4 of marathon training, facing a significant increase in miles this weekend (9 mile LSD on Saturday!) without completely getting over my leg issues, but today was a good run, which has me excited for getting on with this whole training thing properly. 

I was also fortunate enough to get the chance to break out the new shoes on a treadmill. The comfort level was top notch for the entire run. Today was an easy 3 miler, so I wasn't really pushing myself, but I actually have some times to post, because I paid attention to the clock on the treadmill this time around. 

1st mile = 10:23 (this time is slightly off because I walked for the first 2 minutes just to make sure the shoes were laced up right). 

2nd mile = 8:08

3rd mile = 7:31

After completing the 3, I cooled down with a slow jog/walk for another .5 mile, just to keep the old flux capacitor fluxing. Never once did I feel I was pushing myself all that much. I certainly wasn't intending to limbo under an 8 minute mile on my easy/”injured” day, but I just took it naturally, and those were the results. I hit up the usual post-run stretch & strengthening routine. Lesson learned kids: at the first sign of trouble, if your shoes are even slightly worn, it's best to start looking into a new pair. Needless to say, I'm pretty optimistic about taking on this 9 miler come the weekend. After, of course, the ever precious rest day between now and then. 

This Ain't No Picnic...

Yesterday I ran the easy 3 miles to kick off week 4 of marathon training, after which I came home to stretch and strengthen myself, and downed a brown rice protein shake. Everything felt fine, but Wednesday (today), as I walked around campus I felt a tightness in my left  hamstring. Worse yet, I started to feel slight pangs of pain in the oposite leg's knee. For the past week I've been wearing “semi-retired” (yes, the poo shoes) pair of running shoes, when not running, as my recovery walking shoes; just for the added comfort. So what am I doing wrong? I won't say that I'm in pain right now, just that something feels off in my leg(s). There's a tenderness to them, that keeps me concerned, but I felt well enough to take on today's 4 miles, as long as I promised myself: 1) I would take it easy 2) at the first signs of pain, I would drop to a walk. 

Do you know what usually happens at around the 1st mile marker? Any uncomfortableness or sluggishness that I'm feeling subsides, and I fall into a groove: endorphins flowing through my system, alpha-waves charging across my neurons, as running becomes second nature. This is the comfort zone. I know other long distance runners out there will recognize this existing in some portion of their run. This is the moment I relate things to present moment awareness. Breathing in and out, the biomechanics of human essence propelling you forward, and you are neither fatigued nor overly energetic: you just are. I feel like a lot of times in this moment you surprise yourself the most. Maybe you feel terrible, but end up running faster than your expectations led you to believe, like Vincent mentioned, or maybe pain just takes a backseat to doing, and you no longer feel you need to slow down, and take those last few miles at a faster pace than you probably should, especially, if this is a “recovery”, LSD, or easy run, pushing yourself too far could be detrimental to your progress. 

Here's the other thing I considered today: what if the pain I'm currently feeling is due to over-stretching? When ITBS reared its hideously ugly head, with crooked yellow fangs dripping with viscous venom so severe that it paralyzed me in fear just by mere thought alone, the first thing I looked into was stretching as a cure. So within my ice + heat + stretch + strengthen routine, I thought, what if I threw off the harmony of balance and moderation by relying too heavily on one thing over the others? It's as if I'm doing something almost right, because I am seeing results, but at the same time the adjoining areas are being adversely effected. Would this explain why, my ITBS effected knee doesn't hurt anymore, but the pain that exists in my left leg has mobilized and, like a rebel force tracking down the shield generator on an Endor moon, moved upward into other regions of my leg? Have I ignored moderation, and in doing so, exerted my will for recovery in the wrong direction? Isn't moderation the key that opens any door? If so, I'd like to see the size of the key that opens the 26.2 mile door now, so I know exactly what I will be carrying on the day I embark on that whole hell of a long distance run. 

 

Matter over mind

Tokyo, Week 4, Day 3; 4 miles, 8:17/mile.

Today was another cold one. When the alarm went off on my iPhone, I grabbed it to check out the weather: rainy and in 8ºC (45ºF). Already feeling tired (late night at the office), the weather did nothing to increase my gusto for a run. When I finally drug myself out of bed, I noticed that I was still feeling a bit sore and just tired overall. I wasn't expecting the run to be pretty.

I got my first break when I went outside; although it was cold, windy and cloudy, there was no rain. So, at the very least, I got to avoid my least favorite weather: cold, windy and rainy (I easily prefer it to be colder and snowing than to be a little warmer and raining).

The first half mile was marred by coughing (I might be dealing with a cold), which wrought havoc on my breathing rhythm for that part. As I continued along, I didn't feel like I was doing all that well at all during the run. My legs felt more tired than normal, so I felt like I needed to push myself a bit to maintain a pace at which I couldn't talk (as Wednesdays are "fast" days, and fast means I'm running too fast to talk comfortably). Even pushing it, I felt like I wasn't going very fast. I was sure my time was going to be close to 9:00/mile, but I didn't check as I thought hearing my Nike+ lady telling me that my pace was weak might be discouraging.

At the end of the run, I was pleasantly surprised to see on my iPod a terminal pace in the 7s (I thought I had sped it up a bit, but I didn't think I had sped it up very much) and an average of 8:17/mile. I was clearly more tired than last Wednesday, but I was also clearly not as tired as I thought.

None of which means I'm not looking forward to an easy run tomorrow and a rest day after that.

Faux Hamstring Sting

The LSD on Saturday was a 5 mile breeze, marking the end of the first tapper week in the training schedule, which I was very much grateful for. True to form, I took it extremely easy and slow; it's not called long slow distance just for clever lysergic acid diethylamide and Cary Grant references. But something is going on in my left leg that has me slightly terrified. The ITBS is no longer in my knee, but now has crawled up my leg like a Darwin's bark spider spinning webs tougher than kevlar around my tendons; my hamstring is strung up tighter than suspension bridge cables spanning the golden gate, and no amount of stretching seems to be completely doing the trick to fully alleviate the problem.

I skipped cross training again this Sunday because of the leg problems. I'm hoping padding the gap between week 3 and week 4 with this extra rest day will do better in the end than the hour of cross training would have accomplished. Though I am considering implementing the MICE (Movement Ice Compression Elevation) over RICE (Rest Ice Compression Elevation) therapy recommended by Debbie Pitchford. Mobility combined with proper stretching seems to help with blood flow and flexibility, both of which aide in recovery. This seems a sensible argument. We'll see how it goes...

Country runnin', daughter bikin', temp fallin'

Saitama, Week 3, Day 6; 5 miles, 8:46/mile.
Tokyo, Week 3, Day 7; 30-minute walk.
Tokyo, Week 4, Day 2; 3 miles, 8:59/mile.

On Saturday I was up in Saitama at the in-laws', so that gave me a chance to run along this great path that goes through the area next to a river. I was told the path goes up to Kawagoe, but Kawagoe is a city and all I saw from that path was countryside. In any case, I was more than happy to get away from the traffic of Tokyo for a run for once.

The run itself felt faster than it was. I was expecting to come in somewhere in the 8:30s, but I ended up coming in at about the same pace I had been running on my easy days over the week (which sounds about right, according to Hal). I must have ran the first half slow, because during the second half my iPod told me I was running 7-something pace once or twice. (I even clocked in at 6:45 at one point, but that was just me fooling around and seeing how fast I'd go matching the rhythm of a song that I thought sounded particularly upbeat; naturally that pace didn't hold for long.)

Sunday I had planned to do a nice long bike ride, but stuff during the day kept me away from that until dusk. Not feeling particularly in the mood to brave Tokyo's streets at the most dangerous time of day, I decided I'd go for a quick walk and let my daughter tag along on her bike. Needless to say, she smoked me and had to keep waiting up for me, but it was a nice change of pace.

Monday was a welcome day off, and today was one of those mornings when I had to push myself a bit to get myself out the door. For some reason, I felt a bit sore when I woke up (I don't recall feeling sore yesterday). It was cold and pouring when I came home last night, and I was expecting the same thing. Luckily, it wasn't pouring but it was still kind of cold (8ºC or 46ºF). And on top of all that I was kind of sleepy. So, being sore and sleepy on my first really cold day in this training schedule, I didn't expect to do anything impressive, and I ended up coming in at around 9:00/mile for the 3 miles scheduled for the day.

Rhythm Method: Malajube "Montreal -40°C"

I know I previously pondered how far I could go if I added up all the training miles I will run to get "marathon ready" before the race, and seeing that Montreal, at a mere 449 miles away, is covered in that mileage, I thought Malajube, hailing from said city, with their song Montreal -40°C would be a perfect piece to listen to while crossing the Canadian border.

Post-Recovery Running-ing

Wednesday was the second day of running after the nightmare scare of this past weekend's brush with Iliotibial Band Syndrome. At three weeks into training, this was also the first bump up in mid-week miles on the Higdon schedule. I know technically it was supposed to be a hard day, but I kept my pace steady and relaxed, fearing relapse and a potential revisit to Pain City USA (whose gubernatorial aristocracy leans too close to the flames of tea party ethics for anyone's comfort). I'm what might be considered a Zen runner. I keep no track of time, focusing only on present moment awareness (pratityasamutpada baby!) as I run. But if I had to guess, judging by what time it was when I left the house, and when I slinked back through the door, my “injured” recovery pace for the 4 miles was in the low 9's. Not too shabby. After running I stuck with the ITBS stretches I've incorporated into my routine, and then, along with a banana, I protein shook it up. 

Thursday was a mild mannered 3(.5) miles. I remained true to this weeks theme of strolling along at a leisurely pace by not pushing too hard. I actually made use of a treadmill for this one, so I had complete control over an even surface and kept a consistently comfortable pace. Thursday runs aren't meant to be hard anyway according to Hal. My goal, after all, was to simply run the miles to completion, not to break out the gazelle stride and flee the cheetah (I know this sounds potentially euphemistic, but I swear, damn-it, that it's a straight metaphor for running fast). So with a LSD mindset I covered 3.5 miles (the .5 is because I walked the first quarter mile to warm up, then walked the last quarter mile to cool down. This is a habit I usually only implement when on a treadmill. I just can't jump out of the gate in a run on those things, nor can I just simply stop; it's too disorienting, I suppose. I need these transitional buffers when using treadmills.), making this another successful run. It seems the ITBS has dissipated, but there is a soreness in the back my left leg (the same leg that sustained the injury) that feels unusually tight just above the knee. An odd feeling to say the least, especially considering the amount of stretching I've done. It's this discomfort that has finally made me decide to get a new pair of shoes. I estimated the current ones I'm using were purchased in mid-July, and I've put a lot of miles on them since, so it couldn't hurt to upgrade.  

Somehow down at 8:00/mile

Tokyo, Week 3, Day 3; 4 miles, 8:03/mile.
Tokyo, Week 3, Day 4; 3 miles, 8:44/mile.

So Wednesdays are supposed to be a slightly quicker pace, so I decided to measure that by running just quickly enough so that I wouldn't be able to talk easily. Somehow that got me to do my fastest pace thus far: 8:03/mile. That makes me wonder if I could have ran the race on Sunday faster than I did (probably), or whether I was running slower than I should have when I ran 6 miles at a 9:53 pace 9 days ago. I'm also kind of wondering if I'm dropping my pace too quickly, but I suppose I'll just listen to my body to see if that's the case.

Today was another easy 3 miler, and I ran it at exactly the same pace as a I ran on Tuesday, despite feeling a little tired and sore. Looking forward to the day off tomorrow.

Le Samourai

Back in the game after a successful run! No signs of ITBS today. I took it slow, and at first the thing that was bothering me was not my knee, but my shins. I'm attributing this to the rather stilted form I started out with, while I was avoiding putting too much pressure on my left knee. Eventually I loosened up, and fell into the groove. It wasn't a great run, but it was a successful run. I had been prepared to stop and walk along the way, just so my body could move 3 miles for the day, as not to stray too far away from the plan Higdon would say, but no such need arose. I ran it straight through. I returned home and did an extended stretching session. Iced and heated the knee, just to be safe, and I'm siting here now, feeling pretty OK. So, it seems that my mutant healing factor kicked in and I had a 2 day turn around on recovery. I'm hoping this holds true for the rest of the week. 

As noted previously, this week being a tapper week, will make it easier to cover the allotted distance, but I'll be taking it extra slow just as a precaution. I might also stick with walking for Sunday's cross training.

Hopefully, this will be the only major bump in the road to marathoning.

Easy, breezy... speedy?

Tokyo, Week 3, Day 2; 3 miles, 8:44/mile.

Today was an easy day, so I just went out at what I felt like running. And for whatever reason, what I felt like running ended up being my fastest pace thus far, outside of the race on Sunday. Might have been the weather; it was a beautiful, sunny day with a temperature around 22ºC (72ºF) when I went running today. I should probably remind you at this point that it's the middle of November.

On the other hand, the wind was a beast today. On the one hill around Arisugawa Park, right by the German Embassy, the wind was blasting right in my face. Buckling down, I just tried to push it despite the push of the headwind and the pull of gravity.

That said, I don't seem to have been pushing that hard. At around 3/4 through, I caught myself singing to a song that was playing on my iPod, and then right after that my iPod said I was running an 8:10/mile pace.

After the workout, I did some strengthening exercises. I didn't have anything heavy to lift, so I tried filling water bottles with water and using them, but they felt ridiculously light. Might need to invest in some light weights.

Spirit Remains Shatterproof

I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but after a day spent alternately icing, heating, resting, stretching, strengthening (via The Skateboarding Move), my knee feels pretty good this morning. ITBS is tricky, because the injury is an inflammation based on overuse, one must maintain the patience of Zen master Dogen when dealing with the problem. Like Buddha relating his awakening to an instrument: if you tighten the string too much, it will snap. And if you leave it too slack, it won't play. The middle path my friends. 

The true test in regards to my recovery is how well I can handle the stairs down at classes. At all other times, on flat ground, I can just waddle with a stiff-leg to get around the problem of pain. But stairs are a cruel and hideous unforgiving beast when it comes to ITBS. And there's just so many of them on campus. I made it through the day OK. My healing factor is in top form; miraculous almost, in the speed of Wolverine-like recovery. I continued stretching and strengthening, as I did all day Sunday, when I came home in the afternoon, and all seemed well. If tomorrow continues down this path of progress, I'm going to shoot for a S...L...O...W... 3 mile run, which will put me back on schedule having only missed a single day of cross training so far (Mondays are rest days anyway). The outcome of this precautionary 3 miler will determine what I'll need to change about this week's training. Thankfully, good old Hal, has week 3 listed as a tapper week (maybe due to his insight on the dangers of escalation?). Which should go a long way in aiding the recovery process.  

Here are a few handy sites that helped me walk through the problem:

Stretching & Strengthening exercises for ITBS

I maintained a routine of icing my knee for 20 minutes, heating it for 20 minutes, and then carrying out these stretches. Only to ice and elevate the knee again once I was done. I repeated this several times throughout the day. It helped. 

The Walt Reynolds Special (AKA. The Skateboarding Move)

When I was reading the text on a different website, without a photo on how to do this maneuver, I couldn't really wrap my head around the motion, but after seeing the photo demonstration I immediately placed this functionality akin to Skateboarding. Picturing Tony Hawk shredding a street course was certainly a good visual aide to keep in mind while practicing this strengthening exercise.  

American Family Physician: ITBS

Know what it is, so you can try to avoid it. Failing that, so you can try to fix it. 

Along with adding this stretch & strengthening routine into the mix, I'm considering purchasing a new pair of shoes. I know there's a debate happening right now between the benefits of barefoot running versus running shoes, but while staring down the business end of a double barrel shotgun of long distance training, I'm currently favoring the side that provides more cushioning between me and the hard ground. I'm opting to spend a little extra cash for the higher end model, because there's still a long way between here and Tokyo, and if I want to get there in one piece, I think it's best to invest in protection for my most precious running gear: my feet and legs.