[video]
11am. 4C, 2m/sec N wind and dry
21.5km – 1:39:20 – 4:38/km
Ran with Namban club mate Harrisson. 5km warm-up, 10km a bit faster than race-pace (4:15/km) 6km cool-down. Decent session, will be the last hard run until race day next Sunday. Hope to get a bit of an energy boost from the taper as that 4:15 pace is still feeling a bit fast. Just two runs this week for a total of 35km.
13:49pm. 8C, 4m/sec N wind and dry
21.1km – 1:29:31 – 4:15/km
A good effort today. Half marathon distance in sub- 1:30. Including a 2km warm-up. Didn’t feel too hard which is good on an 80km week. Averaged 4:15/k which is Tokyo target pace. 4m/sec headwind on the way out helped me on the way back. Don’t want to jinx myself, but I am feeling pretty confident in the condition of my legs, just need to be careful over the next two weeks. Good to see the average weekly pace coming down too.
12:28pm. 8C, light wind and dry
16.94km – 1:18:10 – 4:37/km
Better today. Pace felt comfortable all the way. Forgot to grease the undercarriage — inner thighs pretty sore now.
From a third-world Ireland of 1967.
(Source: brandnewretro.ie)
6:44am. 3C, calm and dry
11.35km – 56:48 – 5:00/km
Legs still feeling heavy. No drop in weight despite being off the drink for 10 days. When I finished I saw a smart dressed businessman looking at the sun and praying.
[video]
6:26am. 7C, 5m/sec wind from north
12.05km – 1:03:20 – 5:16/km
Might try and make a habit of bringing my camera out on my training runs. Today felt much harder than I expected. Wind was really quite strong – wouldn’t fancy Tokyo in these conditions.
[video]
Social Media explained
I really like this recent series of posters promoting a new shinkansen to Tohuku. The Japanese headline simply says “We’re going to Tohoku!”. I’m not too sure how to best describe the style, but it could be as a kind of Showa (1926–1989) style constructivism (?). Anyway it makes a nice change from the slick photography normally used. Wouldn’t mind getting my hand on a few when the campaign finishes.
I’ll wear these for Tokyo (Feb 26). Had a nice run this morning in them, felt great. They are Adizero Tokyo Haile specials. 225gms of orange goodness.
The plan from the outset was to run this as a Tokyo race-pace tune up. So I wanted to finish sub 1:30. Came in in 1:29:04. Reasonably happy with how I felt. Much better than in the Namban Half I ran a few weeks before Ohtawara last Nov. I had also ran 21k the afternoon before so my legs should have had a bit of accumulated fatigue for the race. I need two very solid BIG weeks now and see where that gets me.
