New Shoes

It’s time to buy myself some new running shoes. I’ve been running on the same pair of shoes for over a year now. They’re still good to go but it would be better to have some new shoes with proper cushioning because next month my weekly average will (hopefully) go over the 40K mark.


For more than one year I’ve been running and racing on my Blue Asics GT-2140 which have helped me through two long winters .

They are still wearable but as I said I need better cushioning and lighter shoes for more speed. I was thinking of buying the same shoes again but I want lighter and always had good experiences on my Nike’s, so I went shopping for new Nike shoes.

I went shopping at Sports Authority and Alphen Sports in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan where I found the latest Nike models very appealing. However, none of the shops were carrying my size (28.5 cm) so I went home and searched the web for Nike shoes. Online shopping is also a great way to find user reviews and maker suggestions on any model of interest.

I chose the new Nike Zoom Speed Cage+ 2.

Which I haven’t been able to find anywhere outside of Japan. I have found another type of the Nike Speed Cage2 but it doesn’t have the + (plus) in the name, so I guess it’s different not only in color but also in cushioning and finishing.

I've placed my order and hope to receive them either tonight or tomorrow evening. But I remember very clearly the first time I took my new Asics GT-2140 for a ride on through the local park and enjoying the fresh bounce too much that I went too hard, too long, and too fast. So I hope to restrain myself this time and let my feet get used to them slowly.

40K Week Total

Finally I have reached the 40K mark again. It has been almost one year ago since my last marathon race and the last time I ran 40K a week was about 8 months ago. It feels good physically and mentally to be able to this much in a week. Now with this solid base I will be able to go to 50K by increasing my long-runs. This week my longest run was about 10K and the other runs were about 6K and 8K. Hopefully I will be able to keep up the basic runs while increasing my long runs little by little.

It was just 2 months ago that I had to give up my marathon preparations because I was unable to run more than 10K without ending up in pain. Looking back upon that decision I know that it was the right one. Thanks to "marathon-training-guides.com" and "runningtimes.com forum" I got the courage to back-off from racing the marathon race which would have resulted in injury for sure.

Don't get me wrong, the last 6K leading up to the total of 40K were not easy and were at my slowest pace in many months. They were over 6min/k pace, but I just wanted to be save and not over strain my legs.

 

Marathon Interval Training

Finally it seems that my legs are accepting interval training for prolonged time. I’ve tried interval training before but started with 1000 meter increased pace with a couple of hundred meters jogging interval. But that gave me lots of pain in my calves and Achilles. Now I’ve adjusted my plan and do only 500 meters at increased pace with a 300 meter interval jog. My pace is at 4:40 per kilometer so 2:20 for the 500 meter. Yesterday I ran 8K with 6x500 meters increased pace work. I clocked in at 42 minutes for the whole 8K which isn’t a bad time for me.

In the future I hope to continue doing interval training in preparation for my marathon. I can feel that running faster pace is easier but at the end of the week I can also feel the exhaustion of the harder training workouts. This interval training will make me faster for sure.

If there is anyone with suggestion for my interval training or interval training in general leave a reply on this post.

Back on track

Although the weather here in Japan doesn't really seems to be willing to provide me with sunny, dry weather, there has been light and improvement in my marathon training. March and April have been good for me and my weekly training total has risen to 35K. This week due to rain and temperatures around 5 degrees centigrade I was unable to run more than three times to a grand total of 24K. Next weeks forecast seems sunny and warmer so hopefully I can go out about five times to run around 35K total.


I've started to incorporate some speed-training work-outs to my running schedule. One is interval-training where I run 500 meter repeats with 300 meter recovery jogs. The 500 meter increased speed is at about 2:20 pace with a max of 2:40. This month I'll do this once a week at 6x500 meter.

Another speed work-out I've adapted is running a medium distance which is about 8K for me at the moment, and gradually build-up my pace. Starting with the first 2K at 6:00 kilometer pace, then 2K at 5:30 kilometer pace, then 2K at 5:00 kilometer pace, and finally the last 2K at about 4:45 kilometer pace. This provides me with reduced risk of injury since the first 4K are at slower pace than my other training runs and thus proving a longer warm-up without straining. But it still gives me the distance and lubrication for a good work-out. The final 4K really pushes me aerobically and makes my lungs work hard.