A frying start to the new year
Boom boom!
Proper report of the Ireland visit and photos (lots) to follow.
Home
No better feeling than heading home, before heading home. Last day at the office, magazine gone to the printers, just. As I was walking back to the apartment my iPod served up Home by Depeche Mode. Just before you go on a trip is always the most exciting. Can’t wait. The only good part of not going home frequently is that the trips wouldn’t feel as special. I can still vividly remember the night before my first trip home after moving here six years ago. Feels like that tonight.
Say hello to my little friend
After years of debating which “proper” camera I should buy, yesterday I finally ordered the brand new Panasonic Lumix GX1. I suppose purists will say anything that’s not a DSRL isn’t a proper camera, but I think for me it’s close to perfect. The version I got is the Double Lens kit option (I think only an option in Japan). It comes with the 14mm 2.5 pancake prime and the 14-42 3.5 zoom. It cost about ¥80,000 (Euro 750) and was delivered yesterday afternoon. Hopefully I’ll use it a lot over the next few years, plenty of interesting lens options that I hope to try too.
Old blog online
Managed to upload my old blog. I made it in that great Apple package iWeb, remember that?
Anyway it’s now here.
Full marathon No.12 coming on Wed. No idea what to expect. Can’t blame tired legs that’s for sure. Best case 2:59:59, worst case 3:15. Forecast looks good. Will be doing it as a day trip so a very early (4am) start. Race starts at 10am. My 5th time at Ohtawara.
Suwako Half
The global economic squeeze has meant that I’ve been making race entry decisions based on how easy, and more importantly, cheap it is to get to them. A while ago when considering the Suwako Half I was assured it was a day tripper. I signed up.
On closer inspection it seemed whilst a day trip was technically possible, staying the night before was the right way to do it. Still, I had the alarm clock primed and was psychologically prepared for the 4am start on race day when I received an urgent email from Namban Phil. A late cancellation meant there was a Super Azusa ticket and a room for me in a friend of a friends house.
The friend was a lovely Australian guy called Kim and his place was a spectacular wooden house, high in the hills overlooking the lake. It was 5-star treatment from arrival till leaving the following day. There was fine wine, craft beer, home-made bread and a pie made from zucchinis grown by the owners. I could get used to this …
Oh, yes yes, the race yes there was a race too.
A Half around the beautiful lake Suwa. Essentially flat, good surface. The weather was a little warm to begin with but cooled about halfway in for me. Others complained it was humid, something I’m normally pretty sensitive to, but the elite Watarase hot and humid half a month earlier must have conditioned me for it.
I wanted to run sub-1:25 at least. So did Cory (aka Beckham, according to a fan on the course), we jostled for position, till about 12k. I think we started a little fast, but then settled into 3:55/k pace till around 12k. Then I struggled a bit through the next 6-7k. He pulled out a lead that he held till the end. I was able to push a bit on the run home and with a sprint finish against an unknown adversary (who I beat!!!). I clocked 1:23:57.
A good satisfying run. Leg strength felt fine, don’t think I’ve done any damage. Thankfully my bastard calfs behaved themselves. Exactly four weeks till Ohtawara. Runners World race predictor suggests a 2:58 is possible for a Full, which I’d be very happy with given the last few disappointments.
In summary, a lovely trip, a fine race and a good effort from your man.
Here are the splits.
DJ Shadow played in Tokyo last Thursday and we went to see him. It was the business. He used this video sphere to great effect. The bass in the venue, Akasaka Blitz, was about as deep and bassy as I’ve ever felt. Great show, Eiko enjoyed it too. I took some video but this YouTube clip probably shows it better than I can.
A good 5k TT
My Half on Sunday was a bit of a disappointment. Finished in 1:29, was looking good for a low 1:20s until about 15k when my calves simply gave up. Anyway I went into the monthly 5k TT tonight not expecting much but was very happy to finish in 17:45. I felt good till about 3k, then my stomach started to bother me. Managed to keep it together for a decent finish. Very satisfied with the effort especially after Sunday’s disappointment. Need to pat myself on the back more when things work out. Have attached the Garmin splits which with the extra 60m is a bit off but from the heart rate is useful enough. The average of 163 compares well with last months 176. The weather has cooled down quite a bit which must be a factor.
Will start the build up now for Ohtawara, with a bit more of a focus on quality rather then quantity.
The Simpsons
It’s now autumn.
There is a day every year in Tokyo, usually towards the end of September, when there is such a distinct change in the air that everyone knows autumn has arrived. That day was yesterday, and the relief it brought me was incredible. It was still quite warm, but with no humidity it was like a different country. Everything changes, the clouds now looks like the opening of the Simspons. Gone are the big, low hanging stratocumulus’, only visible through the soupy haze that’s supposed to be air.
Growing up in Ireland I never remember paying such close attention to the weather forecasts as I do here. Being so liable to change there wasn’t much point I suppose. In the space of a couple of days here I know with almost 100% certainty that I won’t see the return of a hot and humid day until sometime towards the end of June next year.
I love this season. Usually from now until around January — with the exception of the odd typhoon — it will be dry, settled and getting gradually cooler. In Japan they call autumn the sports season (スポーツの秋), and talk about peoples appetites improving (食欲の秋). Everything improves. Food tastes great, you can sleep better, going out is more relaxing, running is easier.
In fact I have my first race, a half marathon, tomorrow morning. It will be warm (24c) and a bit windy, but relatively low humidity (60%). Far from perfect conditions but good enough for an opening race to see how my general condition is after the summer.
Back in the sub 18min 5k club
It’s been a long time since I have run a sub-18 minute 5k. I have been working very hard over this summer, banging out the miles in pretty hot conditions. Tonight I managed a 17:56. Very happy with that, it was warm (28C) and very humid (near 100%). So, looking forward to the few races ahead, especially as things should gradually start to cool down from now. 1km split pace consistency is also a good indicator of my condition.
Goodness Gracious, Mamma Mia
Sorry. I have been thinking way too long of a good subject title for this post. This is the small Indian restaurant near our apartment – Pooja. They do fly a small Indian flag outside but recently they also hung an Italian one with words “Indian Food” written on it. Not really sure what the thinking was here. Maybe they just like the colours, or Italy.
A different kind of hot
Summer in Japan is hard. The heat builds from early June and usually lingers until the end of September.
I just saw the weather forecast and tonight it will drop to a low of 29c. Yes, seven or eight hours after the sun has set it will be that hot. And humidity is at a steady 90% – day and night. Today, during the day it was about 33c and humid. In New York it was something similar, but at night there it will drop to a cool 18c. It’s nighttime temperatures here that are the real killer.
I just checked, and in Madrid for example, it will get as high as 37c during the day but just 20c at night (30% humidity). Athens 39c daytime, 21c night (humidity 21%)
Although we still have more than a month to go, this summer has been relatively tolerable compared to previous years. A typhoon a couple of weeks ago left behind it about 10 days of unusually cool weather. Max of 25c one Sunday! Given the power restrictions here, it’s taken a bit of the pressure off the power generation system. But as the electricity can’t easily be stored it’s a day- to-day thing.
We survive on cold drinks, spicy food and salads, and the a/c is set to a constant 28c. Not that cool, but it takes all the moisture from the air which helps a lot. You tend to wake of with a dry throat, but that’s the price you pay for a chance of a half-decent nights sleep.
A house that could slice you in two
This is a house that we saw on a walk recently. It was actually featured on a TV programme about interesting/odd buildings. It is built on a very small triangular plot of land beside a busy road. I’m not sure exactly how tight the angle of this corner is but if you accidently ran into it, it wouldn’t be pretty. We both remembered the owners are a single man around 40 years old and his mother, who both share the same bedroom.
Kamakura summer run
Joined the Namban summer trip to Kamakura yesterday. The weather has been relatively cool over the past few days making it more enjoyable than previous years. Ran about 20km in total. Tripped sloppily with about 2km to go but don’t think I did any serious damage. Post-run beers went down very well and we had tasty food in the Thai village on the beech. So basically a great day out. A few more photos here.
