april training summary

at the start of this month i took about 10 days off from running after the marathon. this was mostly to give my body a chance to recover fully and also due to moving house. however, i have managed to get in a lot of running since coming up to sapporo and am really enjoying it.

i have also been running a lot with rie. when we run together it is usually at a pace which is perfect for my legs to recover. this means that when i have run by myself i can push myself really hard sometimes. we will see if this training tactic pays off come race day! personally i feel really good though, because when i run by myself i find it very hard to run at a nice recovery pace.

distance: 135.8miles (218.6km)
time: 17hours 04minutes 20seconds
runs: 9 easy, 2 long, 4 tempo

also, this month my suunto heart rate monitor strap broke. i just bought a new one from amazon though so no problem!

bought some new shoes...

so after visiting the asics shop last week i decided that i couldn't resist buying some new 'slim' shoes. so i went to the shop with rie today and got some nice shiny new asic tarther rs alivio-2 'slim' shoes. i have decided i will wear these for races and long runs, and for normal training i will wear my regular tarther alivio 1 shoes with normal socks. i have already covered almost 200 miles in them so they are clearly ok!

i love asics now. i was always a big adidas fan, but since i got that first pair of asics shoes i have totally been converted.

however, i also got another free pair of adidas mana shoes today! there was another problem with my old ones, with the inner slipping alot, so i got a replacement pair and they were even kind enough to give me them in size 27 instead of 27.5. the guy at the adidas shop was really cool so i still love adidas too!

loving running in sapporo

so my wife and i have moved to sapporo for a few months and running up here is like running on a different planet compared to nagoya. of course it is cooler, although nagoya has not yet reached the disguisting weather of summer, but more than that it is beautiful and so clean. don't get me wrong, japan is clean everywhere in terms of rubbish and dog poo and so on, but sapporo is beautiful and the air is so clean. in japanese they say "the air is delicious" and it really is. so crisp and not full of smog or pollution.

plus rie and i found a cycling road that runs from the centre of town for about 20km out into the countryside. this is not a cycling road that runs next to a road with cars on, but simply a path that winds it's way through trees, fields and countryside with very few traffic lights (i think there are 3 on the whole track) and, more importantly, no cars! there are a few bikers and runners and people walking, but it is not crowded.

also, everyone up here is so friendly. everyone says hello to each when they run passed. in nagoya i had one running friend (as in we greeted each other as we passed) and everyone else kind of looked the other way. here it is amazing.

so we are running a lot. rie and i run together three times a week and i add on two or three more runs myself. we are preparing for a half-marathon next week and a full marathon in june. but i feel like i have totally rediscovered the joy of running again. lovely. so peaceful, so quiet, no need to always be looking out for cars or lights... it is a runner's heaven.

the asics running shop

so as you know i bought some asics tarther running shoes a while ago. the gave the inspiration for the name of this blog. well, today i went to the asics running shop that recently opened in sapporo and had my feet scanned and checked and then did some running on the treadmill, which was filmed and played back to me.

amazing stuff. turns out that for some reason (probably because of a broken knee, ankle and foot on my left leg!) i lean more heavily on my right foot. i also have really narrow feet and the guy recommended that i buy slim model shoes from now on. it also turned out that my shoes that i have are about half a size too big. no problem for regular training, as i wear normal socks, but when i where my skinny socks in races it could explain why my feet get blisters.

anyway, it was a great experience and rie and naomi loved laughing at how excited i became. i decided i want to own a running shop in the future!!!