Resurection

My marathon training has gotten off to a good start.

Mid March Running in Hokkaido

I have been running around 30 to 40 km a week all winter long and am following a "training plan" on Runkeeper from Runner's Connect.

Running in the winter wasn't very bad this year.  We didn't have that many days colder than -20 C so I didn't need to use my real warm gear much at all.  Often times people ask me if I use special shoes to run with in the winter.  I have tried "screw shoes" and Yak Trax but I have never bought winter running shoes.  This year I only used the Yak Trax a couple of times.  They really are only good for packed snow and don't make a lot of difference on the ice, at least not the one's I have (Yak Trax Pro).  I've seen newer Yak Trax that have studs in the front instead of the wire coils like mine.  They look like they would work better on the ice.  If the snow is fresh but not deep, there is no problem at all running in that.  If the snow is fresh and there is ice underneath, that is a problem because you can't see the ice.  If everything is just ice, don't run!  Most of the time the roads are slick in spots with dry pavement.  I don't want to use screw shoes or Yak Trax on dry pavement.  No, regular running shoes give pretty good traction, even in the winter, plus you learn how to run in the slick conditions.  No quick stops, starts or turns.  Take shorter strides.  Be careful going downhill!

I had a terrible time getting Runkeeper to start and end the training plan when I needed it to, and in the end, I couldn't make it do it.  Now I have a half dozen junked training plans on my page with no way to delete them.  Grrrr.  I have lots of problems with Runkeeper on my smartphone and I am beginning to think it is mostly because of MY smartphone, which is a 2012 Fujitsu Arrows Ace 101f on Softbank.  Since it is so old, I doubt that anyone reading this would be considering getting one, but if you are, don't.  You can't get them from Softbank anymore as they are trying to get rid of 3G phones and 3G data plans.

Oh, when I start typing it is more like dumping a bucket of thoughts out.  They just kind of splash around with no order or coherence.

Back to running, yes I am.  My left hamstring still hurts.  Actually, my left knee hurts, my left hip hurts, my lower abs hurt....   Getting old sucks. The doctor told me both of my hips are jagged and need replaced.  It would seem that the extra training is making the left one hurt now.  It is very tough doing karate with these hips.  My left leg is stronger than it was a year ago, but still no where near as strong or flexible as my right leg.

I signed up for an early summer full marathon, the Chitose JAL International Marathon on June 7. This has been a great motivator and enabler for my training.  Paying the money and having to figure out how to get there and where to stay (I'm camping) has my mind focused on getting the training done.  At the same time, knowing that I'm going to the race, I think, is making my SO be a little more understanding of my training.  She hates that I shower in the mornings because we already bathe at night.  It's an extra cost to her.  More money for water, and gas to heat it, and more money for electricity and water and detergent to wash my running gear.  I try to mitigate the laundry problem as much as I can by washing my gear in the shower and putting it in a bucket when we don't have a full load of laundry ready.  She also doesn't like me getting up early in the morning to run because it wakes her up.  I finally got on the computer and made a "silent" ringtone for my old iPhone, which I use as an alarm clock and for the Wahoo ANT+ heart rate monitor.  That will help a little bit.  But even with a silent, vibrator-only alarm, and even when I try to get out of bed as quietly and gently as possible, she still wakes up.  She doesn't mind if I run at night, and maybe I can do that for the shorter runs, but I hate running at night myself. I like seeing the sun come up in the morning.  At night, it's just dark when you go out and dark when you come back.  Plus, when I run at night, I have less energy than when I run in the morning, even though in the morning I run before eating.

I need to work harder at getting my stretching done and I MUST start doing my rehab again.  There is so much stuff that I need to do just to stay healthy.  I need to be more disciplined.... or creative?

First Impressions: Screw Shoes

Yesterday it snowed.  It snowed about 20cm and when I went out the snow was fresh and deep.  "Yes!  This is my chance to try out my new screw shoes" I thought. I put them on and took them out for a test.  I ran 8 km through the fresh snow and this is what I found.  They didn't help much.  When running on that much fresh snow, the snow compacts under your foot and the screws never reach the packed snow and ice underneath.  So if you are over the ice you still slip because the screws can't reach the ice to get a grip.  Also, I found that I could really feel the screws that were placed around where the inside ball of my foot is in the shoe.

Today I ran 8km over rough frozen chunky ground and really FELT the screws in my shoes on several occasions! Ouch!  I had some other words too that came involuntarily out of my mouth.  Words that I'm too shy to put here. Psychologically, it was not good to run with the worry of being stuck!  Whenever I stepped on a chunk of ice, the chunk would push that screw and the shoe would compress enough right there to give me a little prick.  I will have to rethink the placement of the screws around the ball of my foot or take them out right there.  I might also take all the screws out and put them in a pair of shoes with a thicker front.

Diet wise I am holding at around 73 kg I think. I still want to get down to 70 kg but I realize that will be difficult this time of year.  I am happy that I am holding.   We have been staying at my in-laws for two weeks now and I haven't been able to get on my scale at home but my mother in-law's scale said I was at 72.5 yesterday.  My goal for December is to run 200 km for the month and 160 km by Christmas.  I think I will need to do some longer runs to reach my goal.  I am at 95.77 km for the month right now and I have 9 days left till Christmas.  If I run at least 8 km a day I'll reach my goal but I can imagine that there will be a day or two when I can't run.  If it was easier to take care of laundry then I could sneak in some runs here and there but.... no... actually I probably should use that time to get what needs to be done, done.

Oh well, if you want to try to make some screw shoes yourself, check out Matt Carpenter's skyrunner.com page on the subject and as he says "happy screwing and running:-)"

The Screw Shoe: the best way to run on packed snow and ice.

Thought for the day:
The conscious brain can only hold one thought at a time. Choose a positive thought.

Winter Running Ready

I thought about this all winter last year but didn't do anything about it. However this year I decided to get my old shoes winter ready. Actually, until last year, I had never slipped and fallen during a run. Living out in the country the roads really don't get that bad. However, since I had an old pair of shoes at the end of their life anyway, I thought I try it out this year. What am I talking about? Making a pair of screw shoes.

I first came across the idea when searching about winter running and was eventually led to Mat Carpenter's page, The Screw Shoe: the best way to run on packed snow and ice! on the topic.

It looked simple enough. I didn't have an electric drill but I was sure I could borrow one from someone. And the screws I could just pick up down at the hardware store, right? Wrong! I'm living in Japan and I don't know if this is a Japan wide thing but the type of screws that would work best for this project are not very popular here. Almost all the screws here are flat headed plus or minus (philips or flathead) type screws. Some stores had none and some had just a few that were too big. The big stores though, had screw shoe sets for sale! They had 9 mm sheet metal type screws being sold in packets of 6 for about 300 yen! This was clearly too expensive considering the high possibility that they will fall out of the shoe and end up flattening someone's bicycle tire somewhere.

I was finally able to get one store to order me some screws of the size that I wanted, 10 mm. So I ordered 50 and they sold them to me for 500 yen. Still a little expensive but a whole lot cheaper than the screw shoe sets.

I borrowed my father in law's electric drill and Aspen and I set to work on making my first pair of screw shoes. For starters we put 10 in each shoe.

With the power drill it was really easy.  If you would also like to try and make your own and get more details on the whys and hows check out Matt Carpenter's site  at http://www.skyrunner.com.

I also bought an Asics Reflective Tasuki.  It is a band that you wear like a sash.  I got this to make sure that no one hits me on my runs in the dark.  If you buy running gear that was made for running, especially by the bigger brand names, it will probably have some reflective materials on it.  Most running shoes do too.  However, if you buy the cheapest stuff that you can find, then they might not have much if any.  So, just to be extra visible to sleepy motorists I got this reflective band to wear.  I brought it home and proudly showed it to my mother in law.  She then told me that she got one at the 100 yen store!  100 yen?  I paid almost 800 yen for mine!  Oh well. 

My motivation for running this winter is high.  Now if only I can get rid of the sniffles! 

Winter Running

故郷のワイオミング州に行って来ました。出来るだけ走ろうと決心していたけど、実はそれほど走らなかったです。帰っている間は結構寒かったけど、マスクさえしていれば問題なく走れます。普段は雪のあまり降らない故郷ですが、今年は10センチほど降りましたね。本当にうれしかったです。だってWhite Christmasじゃなきゃ面白くない。でも雪が余り降らないといっても、寒いのは寒いです。ある日は朝10時半でも氷点下36度でした！さすがにその日は走らなかったね。