A NEW 5,000M PB!!!

I'm happy. Everything went to plan tonight and I managed to run a 17.33. That's 12 seconds off my PB.

I faded near the end—the lack of quality training miles showed—but overall I ran fairly even splits. In fact I surprised myself, running within 1 second of my schedule until 7 laps. At this point fellow club member Jay took over and put us back on schedule. jay finished in a great 17.26.

I was down 6 seconds in 17.30 pace with 4 laps to go, so I was happy to pull back 3 seconds.

As with my last Godo (godo means 'together') time trial, I got a bit confused about the laps. I forgot that our team's fast runner Patrick had lapped me, so the lap board was right for him, not me. I surged with what I thought was one lap to go, only to realise when I looked at my watch that I had another lap to go. My legs weren't at all happy about that, nor my heart, but I managed to find something for the last lap.

Thanks to everyone who stood in the rain to cheer the Nambanners on.

I guess everyone finishes a run thinking "I could have gone faster" - but this time I really feel like I could. I feel fine now, when usually I'm shattered after a 5km.

My knees felt sore on the train on the way to the TT - nerves making me a hypochondriac, I felt a sore throat coming on too. The pain and sore throat miraculously went away went the gun fired.

Right, time to stop blooging and enjoy an Ebisu beer and a cheesecake.

55 minutes

I took it easy for most of tonight's run. My knees felt great at the start but got worse. The pain behind my right knee returned (I can't find a stretch that gets to it). I did 3 minutes fast, just to clear the lungs, but I think I was too hungry because I was shaky when I stopped.

1 hour fast

I felt good tonight. The pain I've been feeling on the inside/back right of my right knee has gone. I had some pain in both knees at the start of the run, but it all went away. This is a good sign - pain that goes away is far better than pain that intensifies.

I ran at that point where it starts to feel uncomfortable. My breathing was steady, and my cadence (to use a bike term) was even. I hit my "30 minute" turnaround point at 29 minutes and completed my "hour" in 57.50. I even slowed near the end so that I could give my knees time to adjust.

It all felt good.

The only problem I faced today was my shoes. They're too big. That's ¥11,000 I've wasted! I tried putting Superfeet innersoles in for today's run, but they didn't help enough. Amazingly I managed to rip part of a nail off during tonight's run - even though my toes are about a mile away from the end of my shoes.

All in all today felt like a good run.

Oda Field workout

Tonight we did 5 x 1,200 meters at Oda Field.

I decided to be sensible and not go out too hard in the first rep. I need to leanr how to run fast and consistently again.

My times were (from memory, not so sure about 2nd and 3rd effort times, I might be out by a second):

4.04
4.02
4.03
4.11
4.10

So, as you can see, my attempt at consistency didn't quite work, but I fought hard and managed to lift my effort a bit on the last rep, instead of giving up and taking it easy.

Before I ran I had a pain in the left inner part of my right knee. The pain went away after a warm-up. It feels like it's connected to my old knee pain, but maybe it isn't.

I'm also getting a pain in my arches, just behind the big toe. I'm fine when I'm running hard, But at slow speeds, and sometimes when I'm relaxing, it hurts and cramps.

One hour - medium pace

Felt pretty good today. Knees behaved. Hips are very tight.

1 hour fast - feeling good

Had a great run tonight. Belted along for the first 45 minutes, knees felt great. After 45 minutes I got a bit worried that I was running too fast, so I slowed a bit. For the last 5 minutes my left ITB hurt a bit, but not too bad.

Rare find

It's not often you come across an Eimie. This one is owned by a guy who runs a bike shop - and I've forgotten the name of the shop.




Eimie frame complete with matching blue Cunego saddle. Sorry about the background - he'd hung it near boxes.




Nitto stem, old skool tape. Note the NJS logo on the Hatta headset.




The blue Velocity rims work well with this frame.

1 hour, fairly quick

I did an hour today. I felt like I've been slack all last week, so I pushed it a bit (about 4.15 pace).

My right knee behaved well. The left ITB got really tight, not just near the knee but the whole way up the thigh. But actually, around the knee, the ITB was OK. It didn't cut into the side of the knee.

The new shoes were good - that is, there was nothing really wrong with them. They're slightly too big (Mizuno really has to work on its sizing - I wear size 26.5 Mizuno racing flats but my training shoes are 27.5. In the Mizuno shop I tried on some 27s that were smaller than my 26.5s. And I did find that at the start my knees were brushing each other - which presumably means not enough arch support. Also, my left foot got a bit sore ( because I was concentrating on positioning my knees, which made me tense my foot.)

1 hour, fairly quick

I did an hour today. I felt like I've been slack all last week, so I pushed it a bit (about 4.15 pace).

My right knee behaved well. The left ITB got really tight, not just near the knee but the whole way up the thigh. But actually, around the knee, the ITB was OK. It didn't cut into the side of the knee.

The new shoes were good - that is, there was nothing really wrong with them. They're slightly too big (Mizuno really has to work on its sizing - I wear size 26.5 Mizuno racing flats but my training shoes are 27.5. In the Mizuno shop I tried on some 27s that were smaller than my 26.5s. And I did find that at the start my knees were brushing each other - which presumably means not enough arch support. Also, my left foot got a bit sore ( because I was concentrating on positioning my knees, which made me tense my foot.)

Finding it hard to commit

Following my knee injury I had to forget about running for awhile. I couldn't obsess about it.

Now, I can run again but I'm still not focussed on it. On Friday, I squeezed in a 20 minute run. But I've also managed to drink three pints of beer, four glasses of wine, a large coke and eat a large tub of buttered popcorn since Wednesday. I ate some good food too, but my weight is creeping up.

I need to switch to proper training and a good diet.

I also need to feel comfortable about trying hard again. When I run fast I worry that my knee will get damaged once more, so in the back of my head I tell myself to take it easy. Maybe that's a still a good idea for awhile.

Bought new running shoes today, so I'll try them out tomorrow - and give you a review, with photos.

35 minutes easy

Went for a run just to loosed the legs, and boy did they need it. Very tight right calf on the inside up near the knee. Tight left ankle inside near the bottom of the ankle bone. Sore ITB on left. Got better as I ran.

Oda Field again

Another Wednesday, another hard night at Oda Field athletics track. Tonight I did 7 x 800 meters. I like 800, but the last few were hard.

My times (if I can remember correctly) were:

2.41
2.43
2.39
2.41
2.44
2.44
2.50

In theory I was meant to go faster with each effort, but the plan didn't work out - I always get too excited when I start.

Both knees were OKish. The right knee hurts a bit now, the left knee hurt a bit about an hour ago. Same pain in the same places.

A couple of bikes spotted recently. An orange Panasonic and something else - I couldn't work out what it was. Any ideas?

1.10

I ran my "one hour" course today in 1hr 10min. I need some base miles in my legs, so speed is not important at the moment.

My left ITB was snapping across my knee as I walked down the stairs to go outside for my run, but a quick stretch solved that. And when my right knee started hurting a bit at 50 minutes I stopped and stretched for awhile and walked for a minute before running again. It worked wonders, I felt no pain for the rest of the run. The key to my bad knees seems to be my hips - keeping my hips loose stops the pain in my knees.

Tell "Tokyo Runathon" - Imperial Palace

Ran the Tell 5km run around Imperial Palace today. Perfect weather (if maybe a bit hot). I've stomach trouble all week so I ran on no food and no drink - it made a difference, but I did feela bit dry by the end.

I ran about 19.02 (on a course that was the correct distance) - which is good enough, just. It was the time I did when I first arrived in Tokyo about 18 months ago. I can't expect miracles - I've done about 20 days training over the past three to four months - and very little quality training.

My left knee feels a bit sore now, the ITB is irritated.

Oda Field

My knees let me run at Oda Field tonight, unfortunately my stomach wasn't so kind.

My times for 6 x 1,000 meters were:

3.19
3.17
Pulled out - had to run to the toilet
Pulled out with bad stomach but got back in
3.34
3.29

Next time I run I won't have two egg sandwiches, yoghurt and an ice coffee at 5pm.

Kyoto fixies

Kyoto is a bit of a fixed-gear desert. Home to the famous Gan Well Pro brand, I thought the city would be heaving with bikes, but Kyoto's about a decade behind the times - an "alternative" bike is a cruiser or a Bike Friday.

I saw one fixed go flying by - pink with Zipp 404s. Maybe a proper track rider. I saw a gaijin on a blue fixed - but he was going the other way.

Then I finally found this one. It's a Makino - unbadged and no markings though. The saddle is great - an old San Marco - a Supercorsa I think.










Then there's this brand - Natural Bikes. Simple singlespeeds. Not bad...







Lastly, a bit of a rarity, a Vigore road frame...




Out of desperation I even started taking photos of bike signs: