6/20 - 6/24

6/20(Wed)

I woke up at 5:45am and started to run from 6:10.
It slightly rained. The temperature was 70°F.

I ran 5.1 mile loop of the Central Park same as the day before.
I finished the loop in 39'28"; 7'44" per mile.

6/21(Thu)

I joined the running class by NYRR first time for three weeks.
The menu was 0.25mile run x 6.
I did each lap with 1'13', 1'14", 1'14", 1'15", 1'15" and 1'15".
According to the Bob's book, this pace is that of sub-6-minute-pace mile in 10K runner's. Actually it was too much for me; 6'15" per mile is enough.
However, I was happy to run the last one in 1'15". I got confidence that I had become a better runner than I was in one month ago, when I did the same work out with 1'19", 1'14", 1'13", 1'14", 1'16" and 1'18".

6/22(Fri)

I ran in the morning for the third time in this week. It is good news.
It was a little chilly this morning. The temperature was 62°F.
I finished 4miles in 33'49"; 8'27" per mile pace.
I felt fatigue from the speed work of the day before and slowed the pace.

6/23(Sat)

I ran a whole loop and 4 mile loop of the Central Park.
The time was 49'08" for the whole loop and 31'26" for the 4 mile loop. The average pace was 8'03".
I started to run at 4:00pm. It was 5:00am of Sunday in Japan when the Saroma 100K ultra marathon started. I tried to imagine how I feel at the start of the 100K race, but I could not. I am not ready yet even to imagine.

6/24(Sun)

I ran three loops of the Reservoir. The each lap was 13'37", 12'00" and 11'28". The average pace was 7'43" per mile.

My weekly mileage was 33.5. I cleared the target of 30.
Next week, my target will be 36. I should run in the morning again. It will be another challenge.

5.1 Mile in the morning

I started this week's training with 5.1 miles run in the morning.

I waked up at 5:45 to start the training at 6:10.
It was a beautiful morning. The temperature was 69°F.

I ran the lower loop of the Central Park.
It took me 39'20" to finish the 5.1 mile loop; 7'42" per mile pace.

The weekly mileage is 5.1. I have 24.9 to go.

6/11 - 6/17

6/12/07

I ran in the morning before I left to work. I started to run on 6:00am.
I don't remember when I did so last time.

I ran the lower loop of the Central Park. I finished 5.1 miles in 39'01"; 7'40" per mile.

The temperature was 68°F. I felt sleepy but enjoyed the morning in the Park.

6/17/07

After 6/12, I was not able to run. I could not wake up early at all.
I was supposed to run 30 miles. However, I could not do it. I ran only 5.1 through Saturday.

On Sunday afternoon, I ran the whole loop of the Park twice; 12miles.
I finished the first loop in 50'11" and the second loop in 48'42".
The average pace was 8'14" per mile.

It was beautiful day. I started my training just after the noon; it was hot. The temperature was 85°F. I thought that it was too hot to run 12miles. But I took water often and controlled the pace to finish 12 miles successfully.

The bad news was I ran only 17 miles. The good news was the pain in my shin was eased during the unexpected rest.

Next week's target is 30 miles again.


It took 1:38'53" to run 12miles.

Shin Splints? - Maybe no problem

After the race on last Sunday, I felt slight pain in my left shin. I thought that maybe it was one of the typical injury of runners, shin splint.

According to the Bob Glover's book, the causes of the injury are "tight clf and hamstring muscles; muscle imbalance- weeknesses in the fron of the leg compared to the back of the legs; running too high on toes; overstriding; leaning forward while running; running shose that are inflexible or have heels that are not thick enough; sudden change from soft to hard surfaces; slanted surfaces; sudden changes in mileage, speed training, or hill running".

For my case, the speed training with a new running shoes should have been the one. On 5/31 I did speed work by NYRR with my new shoes. I did so because I would like to run the Sunday race with that shoes. Usually I use insoles for my running shoes to support my arches. However, I misses to use them at the speed training. The shoes are for light racing shoes with thin heels. I felt very slight pain after the speed work. So I used the insoles at the race. But it might be too late. That is the story.

I tried to run on Wednesday. But I felt storonger pain and stopped the training after 10 minutes. I decided to take a rest for couple of days.

And I tried again today. I ran around the Reservoir of the Central Park. I did three round of it, which was 4.8 miles, in 37'50". The average pace was 7'53" per mile.
I focused my attention on my thin. If it hurts, I should stop and take another rest maybe one more week; such rest could make it impossible for me to try PR in my next race in July.

And it was fine. I felt slight stiffnes but no pain. On wednesday, it was defnitely a red signal. Today it was a yellow. I was relieved so much to realize that I can keep training for my next target.

I will run 30 miles next week and skip the speed work of this week.

Japan day 4M

I jogged to the start line as usual and got sweaty when I got to there. The temperature was 71°F, but it was a muggy morning today.

Today I participated in the Japan Day @ Central Park 4mile race.

It was one of the events in the Japan Day @ Central Park, which was the first Japanese promotional event in the Central Park. There were more Japanese runners than usual race.

The course of the race was typical 4 miler in the park. Start from east drive at 68th street head to north and turn to the left at 102nd street cut off to the west drive and head to south to 72nd street and turn to another left to the goal line at the middle of the cut off.

Today's target was to run the pace of between 6'10" and 6'15" per mile to finish between 24'40" and 25'00". I would like to break 25minutes.

Because recent races were so many of runners who started from the area much faster than his/her level, I lost a lot in the first mile to weave among those runners, I tried to line in front as possible and I did successfully.

Today I started so smoothly to ran the first mile in 6'01"; it was too smooth.

I tried to save my pace in the second mile and ran at 6'06".

I would like to keep the pace in the third mile, where I always lose some seconds. But I could not. The uphill mile was so tough, and it took me 6'30" there. I lost 15 seconds.

I tried to come back in the last mile. I did. I picked up my pace again and ran the final mile in 6'08".

The result was

0-1 6'01" / 6'01"

1-2 6'06" / 12'07"

2-3 6'30" / 18'37"

3-4 6'08" / 24'45"

I broke 25 minute for the first time. I thought that this result should be good step for my next target 10K race in July in which I planned to run at faster than 6'20" per mile.

My place was 64 of 4,594 runners, and 64 of 2,552 male runners. I ran faster than the first woman for the first time.

9.9 mile

I was supposed to run 10miles today in the morning.
However, I was not able to get up early. I started my training on 12:30pm.
I ate steak and drunk a glass of brandy last night, maybe that was why I woke up late.

As soon as I started to run, I found that it was too hot and the sun was too tough to for me run 10 miles. So I stopped after I finished 5.1 mile loop. The time was 42'31". I realized that I was not ready to run in summer condition.

I ran again in the evening at 6:40pm.
The weather was much better at that time. I ran around the Reservoir. I did 3 loops; 4.8miles. Each lap was 12'42", 12'21" and 11'27.

The total mileage was 9.9 miles and the average pace was 8'00" per mile.
The weekly mileage was 26, 4miles to go.