Running in Okinawa

I woke up at 2:30am this morning to cram for my last exam.  I’d decided after Sunday’s 20 miler that I needed to study as much as possible, and wasn’t going to run until I was confident I had studied enough to pass this exam.  The May 1st deadline was quickly approaching, and I had no room for failure. I even stayed at the office to study until 8:30pm last night.  Well, it all paid off.  I can rest assured tonight because I have passed all four of my exams.  Today for the first time I earned a perfect score on my exam.  I don’t know how I did it.  I barely recall taking the test because I was so tired.  I think my brain was on auto pilot.  Maybe that’s a good thing, it stopped me from second guessing myself.

Today is Wednesday which means track practice.  Since I hadn’t slept my wife forbid me to run today, so I went to practice just to meet with Hase.  He’d just returned from Osaka after studying and training there. He handed out next month’s training schedule, and to my surprise, we’ll be doing some speed work.  I don’t recall if we’ve ever done speed work as a group.  We usually just do tempo and lactic threshold runs.  I haven’t done speed work since Steve and I hit the track by ourselves two years ago.   Overall though, I think if I do my training for this month, I’ll be ready to race again by the end of the month.

I was groggy this morning. My studies kept me up late last night, and I only slept for a few hours. It was 6:00 am, and I was headed to the Spot on Foster to meet up with Seth for a long slow distance run (LSD). The funny thing is on the way there I was pulled over for speeding. They said I was going well over the speed limit, which was 25kph/15mph, but they didn’t ticket me – probably because they were hiding behind trees when they shot their radar. I didn’t know the radar could go through trees. They let me off with a warning – thanks! Today was the second time running with Seth again, and was one of the farthest runs I’ve done since I Naha Marathon in ’06, which is surprising considering last week I ran a 20 miler.

It got hot out there, but that’s why we started so early. This time I brought 400 yen with me, and bought a banana and Vitamin water at Coco’s, which used to be HotSpar. I wasn’t sure how my muscles would hold up because I was too hurt to run on Thursday. I had sharp pain in my left glute that started on Thursday. I’ve been studying so much I haven’t had a chance to get it fixed. I know one visit to the massage clinic would fix me up nicely, but not today. Today’s plan was to run 15-20 miles early enough so I’d have plenty of time to study.

We were stopped as we were leaving Foster. The gate guard said we couldn’t leave through the Commissary gate on foot. Apparently they were enforcing an order from the Camp Commander. So we left through the Futenma housing gate instead, headed N on 330 until we reached the 329 intersection. We took 329 N to Chibana, which is just before Expressway exit 5, to Kadena gate 3, and ran along the Kadena perimeter NW-W to 58. Finally we took 58 S back to Foster. Since the Spot gate was closed, and the Commander doesn’t want us using the Commissary gate, we took a detour down Kawasaki path that runs along the river. Then up one final hill to the Hook-and-Jab, and brought it in to finish at the Spot.

I felt strong on my first run today, but when I went out for my second, I felt a sharp pain in my left gluteus and walked back.  I think it’s because I didn’t stretch after my earlier run.  I’m trying to cut corners to get as much study time in as possible.  I should be fine after some stretching and work with the foam roller.

It was rainy tonight. I wasn’t prepared to be responsible for twelve kids. What’s your name? What group are you in? What is you’re training menu? Who do I contact if something happens?

Hase asked me to take over FreeRun practice while he does something in Osaka, and I realize more than ever now that there is more to holding a practice than just being there. I called everyone in for a school circle. I got a head count, separated them by groups, and found out what each group was doing. Thankfully one of the kid’s mother was there, and helped me make a roster.

After some deliberation and overcoming language and culture barriers, I gathered what everyone would be doing, and we started the workout.
elite – 12000m + (400 x 4)
junior A – 8000m + (400 x 2)
junior B – (600 + 400) x 8 + 400
junior C – (200 + 300) x 5 + 400

They all did great. They didn’t stop or complain, and they had fun out there. The rain didn’t stop either, and it started getting colder. Everyone did the final lap together, and I immediately had them get out of the rain to dry off.

I called Hase afterwards, and he was disappointed because Ise and I didn’t complete the workout. I only did the 12k after feeling dizzy and weak (probably from not running lately), and Ise only did one 400 instead of three, but ran a new best 8k time (27:52).

It was fun to be in charge, rewarding even, but next time I’ll be better prepared. I think some things need to be better organized with FreeRun such as an attendance roster, and a recall roster. I sent my suggestions to Hase. Let’s see what happens.

The pressure is on! I have less than two weeks to pass my final certification exam. I’ve been studying hard, and haven’t ran much lately. I’ve been tasked to obtain a high-level certification which requires me to pass 4 advanced certification exams in two months!! Can it be done?  So far, so good.

I did the long run today, and met with Steve, Seth, and David. It was nice to see Dave out there, it was his first time running with our group.  Dave did what he set out to do, and turned around about 30 minutes out. Good job, Dave! Hope to see ya out there again!

Steve, Seth, and I ran further through the country fields of Yomitan where Steve and I first spotted pheasants last week.

After the fields, we turned up to the old Yomitan airstrip to add a couple more miles, and continue the same course we ran last week. I was thinking running 15 miles, but when we came down from the airstrip, I wanted to do more.  I decided to run further out to Cape Zampa. Steve thought I was nuts, so we decided to split up.  Luckily I found a machine with 100 yen water, so I bought water for everyone.  Then we split up.  Seth followed me down the hill, 4 kilometers to the cape.

We ran all the way to the end of Yomitan peninsula past Hase’s house and down a long hill to the cape.  I was worried about Seth, but he knows his body well, and said he can make it.  I thought, “I guess I’m not the only crazy around.”

We reached the park, and turned around to face the 4 km hill climb!  Seth fell back a bit, and I kept going.  It was getting hot, so I decided I’d stop at the next Lawson to refill my water bottle.  No coins left, so I filled it up at the sink.  By this time, Seth caught up, and I gave him my water.  I think Seth really appreciated the extra water; he hadn’t ran this far in a long time.  Me neither.

We took the river course back, and met up with Steve who was camped out (lawn chair in the parking lot) waiting for us to come limping back.  No injuries this week. 

I had an enjoyable run today. Steve and I met up at a park 20 minutes north. We took off following the sea wall; a path we hadn’t run before.  We followed it to the river. Then we followed the river trail as far as we could, and found another trail.
This was a fun run, and I’m sure I’ll do it again someday.
Here’s the satellite shot from the route we took.

Another hard workout with FreeRun. The kids are great. They keep me in check. When everyone is doing their bo exercises I’ll get eyeballed if I don’t do mine too. So they keep me honest. There is also the added motivation that they are looking up to me, so if I stop or cut out of a workout early it not only looks bad, but also will send them the wrong message.

Today we did (3k, 2k, 1k) x2. My legs felt heavy through the first set, but my turnover and focus came as I progressed through the workout.

I later looked at my times, and was surprised to see they were pretty good. I guess I should have confidence in my training even if my legs feel heavy.

I’ve come a long way with FreeRun. Shortly after I started training with them, I ran a 5k time trial in 18:44, and now I’m in shape to run a low 15 or high 14 minute 5k. I’ve ran Personal Bests at every distance from 3k to marathon – 3k, 5k, 10k, half-marathon, and marathon. One of the junior runners gawked at my performance today which made me realize how much I’ve actually improved since first joining the team.

Today was officially the first practice of FRSP. There were many aspiring runners out there which made it much more fun to have more people. There had to be at least 20 runners! FreeRun has about 80 junior members, but their practice is on a different day. I was surprised that many runners from the junior squad showed up to the elite practice. We now have several different training levels – two elite levels (long and middle distance) and three youth levels (A, B, and C). Each member was provided with a monthly training schedule, and advised that it may look tough, but don’t to give up during a training run just like you wouldn’t stop during a race, but by all means stop if you feel an injury.

I am looking forward to the new training.

Here are links to some pictures from today:
warm ups

after the run

after the run (2)