january training summary

the main aim of this month was to get back to training fitness and start putting some miles into my legs in preparation for the marathon at the end of march. here is what i managed to do:

distance: 79.4miles (127.4km)
time: 9hours 50minutes 46seconds
runs: 8 easy, 2 long, 2 tempo

overall i felt good and by the end of the month i had definitely got my mojo back and was really enjoying running again. feel like i re-started gently enough to stop any major injuries. my foot felt fine although my shoes are beginning to get a little tired i think.

first long long run

today i did my first long long run... haha, if that doesn't make sense i apologise! most of the marathon literature i have read suggests that the long run is probably the most important part of training. after my experience in the nagoya city marathon of struggling in the last few kilometres, i can totally understand this advice. i read an interesting article on the mcmillan running website (definitely worth a read - http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/marathonlongrun.htm) about not ingesting any fuel before or during the run and decided to give it a go. here was the result:

time: 1hour 56mins 33seconds
distance: 24.2 km
pace: 7mins 46s per mile.

as my dream for the marathon involves running under 3 hours i wanted to run around 7mins 50s - 8mins 20s per mile (about 1 - 1.5 minutes slower than my marathon pace), so in that sense it was perfect. i didn't need to take on any fuel although by the end my legs were definitely feeling heavier. it was a good workout. it is pretty cold over here in japan at the moment but it gives me the chance to wear my thermals and enjoy it!

a new year and a new aim

i have decided to enter a marathon before leaving japan. if i could complete a marathon over here i feel like it would be perfect, as it is japan that has helped me to appreciate running again. of course i will be coming back to japan regularly in the future and will hopefully live here again one day, but this is something that i have suddenly decided i really want to do.

my foot feels fine now. there is some kind of nerve pain sometimes, but i don't think there is anything structurally wrong anymore. there is no pain on my bone anyway. i am looking forward to getting back into training and doing some long runs in preparation for a marathon, possibly at the end of march.

november training summary

the idea was to go for the half-marathon, but after my injury i was unable to train for a couple of weeks before the race. anyway, here is what i managed to do:

distance: 48.4miles (77.6km)
time: 5hours 18minutes 59seconds
runs: 2 races, 2 easy, 3 tempo

nagoya city half-marathon

i did it! today i completed my first half-marathon. having tested out my injured foot on friday i decided it was ok to run. by the end of the race i couldn't even notice any pain in my foot - mainly because of the pain throughout the rest of my body! it will never cease to amaze me that no matter how hard you prepare for a run, it almost always hurts your body. haha, it is one part of running that i love of course.

so how was the half-marathon experience? well it really is a long way. the final few kilometres were tough as i slowly dropped off my dream pace, but not surprising as i didn't train (and hardly even walked) for the past two weeks due to my foot injury. i was really really pleased and was also touched by some friends (lili and rich) coming to watch and of course my beloved rie being there are the start and finish to cheer me on. the feeling of total deadness and lack of energy in my legs as i climbed over a small humpback bridge ("it felt like climbing a mountain," i would later tell rie!) with a few hundred metres remaining really let me know i had done it.

anyway, the result:
i came in 52nd (out of about 2000 finishers - around 3300 started) in a time of 1hour 21minutes 0seconds. i was actually the first non-japanese finisher too!
my splits were as follows:
5km: 18m 28s
10km: 19m 07s (37m 35s)
15km: 19m 12s (56m 47s)
20km: 19m 44s (1h 16m 31s)
FINISH: 4m 29s (1h 21m 0s)

as you can see the last 6km was the hardest, especially the final 1.1km! i probably went off a little too fast, despite trying to control myself. but, it was a great experience and one i am looking forward to repeating next year.

once again i would like to reserve some special mention for japanese spectators. there were thousands of people lining the whole route (which was just one lap) throughout nagoya. they cheer and shout and wave flags. if running in england had been like this i would probably have never stopped! thoroughly enjoyable and really fulfilling. the plan now is to rest up for snowboarding this new year and start running again in january if all goes well.

here is the race website: http://nagoya-city-marathon.jp/