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. 

Fixed the bike, broke myself...

Yesterday was meant to be a 7 mile LSD, but it ended up as a quick paced 8. I had a fresh set of boundaries mapped out by google and committed to memory, I was feeling pretty confident from how well the week in running was going. nary a sore muscle to be found on my person, the weather was brisk, but a strategic array of layering kept said person comfortably cool. I blame shoddy construction work for disrupting my routine. Every time I turned a corner I ran into “road closed” signs, usually I run through anyway, subject to the glowering faces of workers standing around, but today the trucks were scattered about blocking entire portions of the road, in several locations, on several streets. I was cut off, and had to recalculate my path. Annoyed, I broke out into Flourtown, far away from the confining construction consternation. I knew where I was, but only had a rough idea of how far it was to get back to where I wanted to be. I usually don't head towards Flourtown, because I don't want to deal with having to wait out the traffic at the busier intersections in getting there and back. 

The run itself went extremely well. I never once felt tired, I kept up a strong pace, and got to cover new terrain that I hadn't viewed from a runners perspective previously. There were long stretches of slow burning hills during which I couldn't help but think, “I can see how Forrest Gump could just keep running”. That's how comfortable things were. So what happened? I came home too pressed for time to partake in my normal post-run stretch routine and protein “shake” (this is a misnomer, since what I mean to describe is actually stirred, but there's something wholly unappealing about referring to a beverage as a protein stir. So shake it is!). 

It wasn't immediately apparent after the run, but by the evening when I was walking through the city, and having to traverse subway steps, I knew exactly what I was dealing with, again...Some of you may remember I mentioned something about a pain in my knee that reared up and disappeared, like a devil-toothed porpoise-shark hybrid breaching the ocean surface for air before returning to the depths of the sea to reclaim its next victim, which in hindsight was a tell-tale sign of the horrors to come. ITBS (Iliotibial Band Syndrome) is a sharp, unforgiving, pain that shoots up the outside of the knee. It occurs mainly as an “overuse” injury. Those that have dealt with this before will immediately attest to how difficult bending the injured leg, or walking down steps, becomes when it feels like your knee is a radial saw that your nerve endings are being sliced by. I've dealt with this injury before, except in the opposite knee, when I first started running over a year ago; too much, too fast, too soon. It took about 2 frustrating weeks to fully recover, but I was far more reckless in caring for it then. This time, I jumped right on it, because I knew something was happening. 

You can probably imagine my fear in how a 2 week set back in marathon training two weeks into the program would be a cause for alarm. I think this time around, it wasn't entirely the running that did me in, but possibly the bicycle cross-training last Sunday. I hadn't been on a bicycle for months, and last Sunday afternoon I hopped on my tentatively functioning Schwinny Cooper and pedaled away like Lance Armstrong fleeing a tidal wave of snarling cheetahs that just escaped from the zoo with a ravenous taste for human flesh. Other contributing factors under consideration for Saturday's injury: 


1) Accidentally running 8 miles, instead of the recommended 7 on the Hal Higdon schedule. 


2) I ran surprisingly faster than I intended to, even though this was supposed to be a LSD run. 


3) I ran a different course than I had planned which had far more hills and uneven terrain (see above: construction consternation). 


4) I didn't stretch at all when I got home (because I was pressed for time and needed to be somewhere). 

I'm somewhat worried about how my spirit will handle this set back. Week two was going so well, and this has the potential to break my spirit so early in the game. This recovery will become a test of patience, because every instinct in me just wants to get up and run, but that, along with parkour, is one of the main activities to avoid while ITBS symptoms persist. We'll see...

10-K race as a hard training run

Tokyo, Week 2, Day 7; 6.2 miles, 8:33/mile.

As today's a day off, I'll write about my race yesterday.

I ran a 10-K race along the Ara River. My goal wasn't to go out and kill it like a race I'm well prepared for; I wanted to just get out there at a kind of hard pace that I could hold up for the entire race. And, judging by the fact that today is the first day I've been sore since I started training, I must have succeeded in that.

I'm still not completely sure what I ran. First, my Nike+ iPod told me I reached the 5-K point a while after I reached the midpoint of the out-and-back run, meaning one of them was off. I think I might try to calibrate my Nike+ sensor on a track during the Namban Rengo's Wednesday night interval workout. Second, when I finished the race, I was too focused on getting a drink to bother to pay attention to my time, which I would have had to get off of the paper on to which they had noted it down. So that left me pretty much in the dark as to what I actually ran.

Still, the Nike+ iPod had my pace at something sub-8:00/mile for the first half and going as low as maybe 8:30/mile for the second half. I'd venture that I averaged about 8:15/mile, which would make put me at something over 50 minutes for the race. I hope they post the results soon so I can see how I really did. Update: The results have been posted here in the comments. My results were a little slower than I thought: 51:24, or about 8:33/mile.

Oh, and the women's race was won by the only other vegan in the group (go Meg!).

After the race, most of the participants went to a Japanese bath house. A nice dip in a Japanese bath after a race sure makes your legs hurt a lot less. I spent most of my time in the rotenburo, or outside bath, which is, as you might guess, outside. It was just cold enough to give you a nice chill when you got out of the hot water.

Then it was back to the river for the post-race barbeque, kids race and awards ceremony. In addition to us two vegans, there were a number of vegetarians with whom we set up a little vegetarian powwow. There was plenty of vegan food to go around; there was salsa, tortilla chips, potato chips, salad, and veggie skewers. Another vegetarian brought some tofu to cook up on the barbeque while I brought hummus, pita, and baby carrots. After eating some of all of that, I was pretty much completely stuffed.

All in all, a fun day and a decent run for just two weeks of training. That said, here's looking forward to lots of improvement...

Building cross training into the schedule

Tokyo, Week 2, Day 6; 10km on a bike.

Today I had to go into the office, so instead of assuming my strap hanger pose I decided to make the 5km distance trek on bike to cover my cross training for the week. I learned two things today. First, Tokyo is damn hilly (something I learned more on the uphill parts than on the downhill parts). Second, having to frequently stop for red lights, other bikes, pedestrians, cars, etc., is really annoying. It's much easier to avoid that when running because you can just turn a bit up the street while waiting, but that's not so easy on a bike. I wonder if there's a path somewhere around here that I can bike on without needing to stop so much.

The Short Shrift Cycling Shorts

I'm certainly no cyclist. I never have been. I was a skater growing up, and while applying grip tape could be a messy task to take on from time to time, a board with wheels is definitely a whole hell of a lot simpler to deal with than the moving mechanisms of a bicycle. I stated earlier in the week that cycling was somewhere in my future plans for effective cross training, but with the state of disrepair my bicycle was in, I wasn't considering taking it on anytime soon. However, in the full spirit of the marathon, I wanted to broaden my cross training options, so I dutifully went and got a new tire and a portable pump for my Schwinny Cooper.

While changing the back tire, I felt around the inside rim and found the culprit behind my flat. A sliver of metal so slim that it would shame an average staple into an abysmal obesity complex. After pumping up the new tire, I took it for a quick spin, and was satisfied with things appearing OK for the time being. I did have visions of the wheel that I just screwed back on coming off, and me breaking my face and legs in an over the handlebars dive due strictly to my mechanical incompetence. But hopefully the vision is the closest that this scenario comes to a reality. This fear is founded on the fact my bicycle is a crap trap of frustrating defects. I got burnt on craigslist because the guy selling it knew a lot, and I knew not nearly enough above nothing to realize how much work it really needed. I literally have electrical tape keeping the straps on my pedals in place. Seriously, how safe can that be?

I plotted a 10 mile course around the neighborhood using Google maps. I use this same method for scoping out runs ahead of time too; I highly recommend it. In my mind, 10 miles on a bicycle didn't seem far at all, but I wanted to take it easy my first day out as to avoid any chance of overexertion this early in my training schedule. As much as it would suck to get an injury anytime during this process, I think it would be the most frustrating on a cross training day, because I'm not even running. I threw on a pair of running shorts, despite knowing beforehand how chilly it was outside, but the only pants I have are loose legged, and therefore run the risk of getting snagged on the chain. This shorts call was a bad one. They weren't cycling shorts at all. Just plan shorts I wear running; I won't even go so far to call them running shorts, since I'm not even sure they were meant to do even that. Unfortunately, they are far removed from sufficient cycling shorts since they rode up high along my thighs as the biting bitter cold wind invited itself along for the ride. 10 miles quickly became what seemed like FOREVER. I'm not even sure how long I was gone. It felt like Luke before Han stuffed him into the Tauntaun. Unfortunately my bicycle has no belly to keep me warm, so if I fell out here, Hoth be damned, I was going to freeze. 

My chain has a tendency to pop off at the most inconvenient times; I know, what constitutes a convenient time for this? I can only reply, when I'm not on it? For this ride, it happened while struggling up a steep hill, with drafty winds nipping at my nethers, that runs alongside a golf course. Many times I've entertained the danger of being beamed by a golf ball in this scenario, either out of accident or spite, ever since the day I was running alongside another golf course, and the parked van about 15 feet ahead of me got pinged by ball. I have no reason to believe the golfers were aiming at me, but one never knows...

Anyway, I made it home, cold, sweaty, and tired from what I figured was going to be an easy day of cross training. I was wrong on all accounts. I think next week I shall incorporate cross-cross training into the mix, until I develop more cycling strength, which will consist of me biking 4 miles to a park, walking a few miles while there, then biking the 4 miles home. This seems along the lines of a bikers version of The Art of Amateur Fartleking, that I spoke of for running. 

Midnight run

Tokyo, Week 2, Day 5; 3 miles, 8:53/mile.

So tonight was one of those nights at work where every time you think you're about to leave the office, something else falls into your lap. Determined not to miss another run this week (I missed one already), i was resolute that when I got home, I'd go for a run.

I got home around midnight and pretty much went right out the door. At 11º C, it was a pretty chilly night, but it felt about right for a run. I ran the 3 miles at a pace that was just a tad faster than I ran earlier this week, but I didn't feel nearly as beat up afterwards. Guess that rest did me some good. I wonder how much faster I can get just by resting...

Work 1, Run 0

Argh. Up late last night doing work, meant I tried to put off my run until tonight. Stuck at work until now (3 a.m.) + an early morning means no run tonight or tomorrow morning. Well, here's to Friday night runs...

Rhythm Method: Atlas Sound - Walkabout

Combine Bradford Cox and Noah Lennox and you get this great Atlas Sound song that should not only put you in the right mood to run, but also give you something to think about with its nostalgic charm of self-reflective reevaluation. An official video doesn't seem available, but this one uses stock footage that matches the tone quite well.  

Atlas Sound: Walkabout

The Art of Amateur Fartleking

While glancing over my training schedule early this morning I saw that Higgy Stardust noted today's run was supposed to be my hard day. Throughout the day I felt an odd pain in my left knee that had me worried about this hard day's night run coming up when I got back from classes. I couldn't really pinpoint what the pain was, since it was inconsistent in when it chose to present itself. It was sharp, brief, and to say the least, worrisome. But by the time I got home and geared up to run I was feeling pretty good; so I let my apprehension melt away like a snow-cone dropped on a hot city sidewalk in mid-July, all the while tears cascading down the cheeks of a lonely little girl whose lot in life is to subsist in a reality where her only desire is vanishing before her watery eyes. I indulged in a handful of cashews about half an hour before my run, which I normally would avoid like the Rand (I'm not saying Dickens, I like Dickens; despise the Rand), but the only other sustenance I had all day was a banana in the early afternoon delight, so I figured I needed a little fuel to face the fast pace race speed.

I decided, just about the moment I started running, that I would embrace today's workout by fartleking my way through the 3 miles. I know, 3 miles doesn't give you much room to speed play, but I made the most of it. Along the way I'd pick a lampost and hike my pace up until I made it to a parked car off in the comfortable distance, or sometimes I just ran a block with the Falcon in hyperdrive, before reverting back to an even recovery pace in preparation for the next speed segment. This really works quite well for those that want to remove the structure from within their run, throw out the need to add up numbers on the old abacus or Casio calculator watch (or whatever the kids use these days for computations) and just have fun with it. You can be more disciplined about it if you want to keep the numbers in play, but I prefer the capricious approach. 


I've recommended this down and dirty art of amateur fartleking approach to a number of people who want to start running, but hate running (like I once did: story to come). Using this method as a proper introduction to running, a non-runner won't burn themselves out too soon when taking the jog/walk fartlek approach, because your body needs to get used to the idea of motion before going too fast, too far, too soon (a painful personal lesson I learned at the outset of my running habit: story to come). This essentially increases the chances of a non-runner actually running again. The beauty behind the fartlek is that as much as it works for beginners, it works for all other skill levels as well, because it's very much a personalized workout strategy. You set the limits of your own comfort level and basically make a game out of accomplishing these miniature goals along the way. I finished today feeling like I had accomplished a very solid run, probably the best one I've had since I started the training last Tuesday. 

Rhythm Method: "Io sono il re" by Triba

Since I mentioned earlier today that I was fortunate to have some good, quick songs come up in the playlist while running today, I thought I'd introduce the one that set the pace for the run: Io sono il re by Triba. This Italian song from 2002 was the first song in the playlist, and resulted in me running the first mile of the run at 8:26 simply by going along with the music.

Surprisingly speedy

Tokyo, Week 2, Day 3; 3 miles, 8:55/mile.

A virtuous congruence of several things appears to have led to a surprisingly speedy pace of 8:55/mile today: nice weather, two days of rest, no touch of the tightness in my achilles' that I had last week, a string of up-tempo songs on my iPod, letting loose on downhill segments while pushing it on uphill segments, etc. The real trick now is preventing a slide back towards the roughly 10-minute mile pace I was doddering along at last week.

Mixing up the schedule a bit

Tokyo, Week 2, Day 2.

Today I was supposed to go for a run in the morning, but sleeping through my alarm meant no time for a run. I got home from work relatively early tonight, but I ended up falling asleep early too, so in the end I'm shifting the runs back at day, losing the rest day on Friday to balance out the extra one I had on Tuesday.

I'm also flipping around the weekend runs this week. Saturday will be cross training while Sunday will be a 10K race + a barbeque, both organized by the Namban Rengo, "Tokyo's international running club". Given that by the time of that race I'll have been training for a grand total of two weeks, I'm gonna treat the race like a training run rather than a race, but it'll be good to meet some of the other runners in the area.

I also appear to be one of four veg/vegan runners (out of 125 or something like that), so as someone else has already volunteered to make vegan desserts, I'm going to see if I can whip up some barbeque appropriate vegan food.

The Curious Kayaker

I woke up curious about something today: if I add up all the miles I will run while training for this marathon, how far would that actually get me? Over the course of the next 18 weeks, I will be running 435 miles (461.2 including the Tokyo Marathon). That means I could run back and forth from Philadelphia to NYC about 5 times. I could make it to DC and back 3 and a half times. Or I could run to Toronto Canada, and still have enough miles left over to jog about and see the sights! This would save me lots on bus fare, but I guess once I crossed over, I'd have to convert to kilometers. Ah, sweet sweet metric. I suppose I should get used to keeping track of kilometers, since the marathon is in Japan.

My next question was, how far would those miles get me if I were to set a course for Tokyo right now. A quick Google maps search led me to discover the suggested route is 9,574 miles, which takes an estimated 36 days and 5 hours (127 days, if by foot, which I'm already too late to partake in; maybe next year) from Philadelphia to Tokyo. You might wonder how Google maps thinks this voyage is possible, and I was quite pleased to see that once I make my way to the to the opposite end of America, a quick Kayaking trip of 14 days across the Pacific Ocean will land me in Hawaii. From there, after reliving a few key scenes from Lost (my suggestion, not Google's), it's only another 20 days of kayaking the open sea until the land of the rising sun is met by me. So it seems if rest days were never a necessity, and it didn't cut into my regular marathon training schedule, then this method of travel would cover all my cross training requirements, and then some. I wonder if Hal Higdon has a secret advanced program that embraces this method?

From Philly to Tokyo