HAPPY NEW YEAR

Kameoka Half Marathon

Forgot to tell you the time. It was 1:21:35

Wakaura Marathon with Jazz (10K report)

With my boys.

Getting a good collection of place medals from this 10K.

Not a bad start.

Overtraining (Race preview)

New V02 Max of 63. I'm 51 years old. These times are what I could possibly do with that V02 Max. I'll take them for now. ;)

Early Fall.

Late Summer Early Fall

Cirque du Soleil's back and core training

Been doing this work out this week and it is great! Wanted to share it. Much harder than it looks. Try it, it's a beauty!!

Run in the Sun

A cautionary tale.

Summer Training

Don't Rush!

An old Zen story begins with the apprentice swordsman asking the master:

“How long would it take me to become great under you?” he asks. “10 years,” the master swordsman replies. “I don’t have that long,” says the student. “I want to be good soon. What if I worked very hard and dedicated myself completely to the task?”“Ok, 30 years,” he says back. “But that’s even longer,” the student says with some perplexity. “I am telling you I am in a hurry.”And so the master replies, “Precisely, students in a hurry end up taking even longer to learn what is right in front of them.”

 The lesson that the master is trying to impart to the apprentice is an important one. So important that I’m confident in saying if you fail to understand it, you’ll fail to really get anywhere in running or life! I began running semi seriously about the same time my first son was born. The first year of running was a stop, start affair where I’d run for a few days and then have a few off. This process was somewhat analogous to the learning to walk pattern that my son was going through at around the same time. Casey would easily pull himself to his feet, walk around the furniture for a couple of days looking like he was just about ready for his first steps unaided, and then just as suddenly flop down.  For a couple of weeks he’d be on all fours happily going back to the crawl that he had become quite proficient at. I wondered if he would he ever learn to walk but I failed to wonder the same about my running and whether I would ever gain any continuity.

 Casey of course did learn to walk without the help of our sofa and I,  by the time he did, was running a consistent pattern of 5 days a week. The point here is that everything has its time and everything arrives in its good time and rushing it won’t help. In fact, it’ll do more harm than good. Show me an injured or burned-out runner and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t understand much less practice the principal of “less is more.” I can link just about all my running injuries to the times I push things too far by going too fast or running too far in training before I was physically ready to. 

What I’ve learned from the set backs I’ve had is to be hyperaware of the risks you face when trying to hurry your progress. The choice comes down to this: Do you want to be running this time in another ten years having reached your potential or do you want to be sidelined with a string of frustrating injuries and never know just how far or fast you could have gone?  

We, especially those of us raised in the West in the last half of this century find it hard thinking in the long term. While instinctively we know better, the consumer culture has masted this reality. Quick easy payoffs are encouraged by society and the media. Youth culture rules. The impulsiveness, the need for immediate gratification that would have at one time been reigned in by a mature elder is let run amok, even to the point that it is held up as an ideal by those that surreptitiously want to get in the young’s pockets. While businesses in Japan are not adverse to fleecing their youth of money by promoting the quick fix, their practice when it comes to traditional arts and sports that they value, show they more than understand the path to mastery is a long one.

   Many of the elite Japanese female marathoners will start the 1st year of a 4 year build up cycle hiking in the mountains with weighted packs. They do no running of any consequence at all that first year. This long term view of training prepares them for running 200 km weeks in their 4th year. And it is this ability to handle high mileage, without breaking down, that propelled them to the top of the world rankings in the marathon. 

When my boys were still toddlers I used to run every Sunday in the early morning at a local 3Km loop around a pond. There I’d always see this one elite looking woman running loops and lapping me at will. After my morning session I’d go home for a shower and some breakfast and after doing some shopping take my kids back to the pond for some kite flying or whatever. More often than not I’d see this slip of a woman still running loops! You can be sure that she paid her dues and she was not running such high mileage without the proper build up. At one time I thought if I just copied such people I’d get better but instead in the first 5 years this approach had me hobbled by injuries. Trying to rush things was, is and always will be, a fool’s errand. Below is an part of a blog entry from October 2010, a year that I was more injured than not.

 Waiting in the clinic for an echo scan. Since coming back from Oz just haven't been able to run without pain. Actually that's not all together true, I have had a couple of near pain free runs but the fact that these almost make me cry with happiness points to how rare they are. Anyway, put it this way, I've had more comments on my blog recently then good runs. While I'm confident I will be OK sooner rather than later the healing is taking its good time. I should make a confession, lest someone else follows my lead and get injured themselves. I'm pretty sure this all stems from my 5K and 10K races so close to my last full marathon. As much as I'd like to believe I am, I'm not special and can’t get away with going against all common sense. After my next full I'm going to give myself a good long break before building up to racing again. Might even still be PRing in my fifties if I act with a little more prudence. One more piece of unsolicited advice. Basically don't believe what people say, just watch what they do and how they spend their time. As for running if they are injured more than they aren't, then they are usually doing something wrong and that is usually pushing things to get things done before their time.  

 I started running in earnest at around 42, in the Master's age group, I figured I didn’t have much time to improve before I’d start my decline due to aging but that was exactly the wrong approach. Luckily, before doing myself too much damage I read about the likes of John Keston and accepted the reality of a slow but sure progression over time.

 John Keston, the holder of a world record at 70 years old, began running at 55. It was only after running at lesser distances and building his base from 20 miles a week to 60 miles within a 5 year period that he thought he would be ready for the marathon. Contrast this with most older runners who take up the sport later in life for health reasons and 6 months later are running their first marathon. The pattern goes: They injure themselves training on the 2nd or 3rd attempt at the marathon distance and give up running before they really get started. Keston ended up breaking 3 hours for the marathon at age 70 and continued to run multiple successful marathons through his 70s. We should see people like Keston as poster-boys for a life well lived. Anyone who is able to reach their potential with intelligence, patience and good humor has, in my humble option,  “lived well”.

Getting Faster One Day at a Time.

Hope you're all well. Things are fine here. Slowly getting back to some decent mileage. Have already done a couple of marathon pace tempo runs and on my second week of weights and strength training. I''m definitely feeling stronger.

In the next few posts here I'll go into the specifics of this training but in the meantime I wanted to share this video I came across with you. I plan to start such exercises, though at a little less intensity, in the summer months here.

Enjoy this video and try incorporating a few of these exercises and drills yourself. Come the racing season I reckon we'll be hitting new highs.




Message to Mark's wife. When Mark get's better I recommend he go and see "Coach" Rick Hoffman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bGNlmIE_8I

Strength Training for Performance Running.

Graham Green (50) 2:31:5.. at this Years London Marathon. Poster boy for Strength.

Below, as I mentioned in the video, an extract from Gordon Pirie's book "Running Fast and Injury Free."

A race is an all-out effort over a short period of minutes or seconds. The aim of weight training for runners is to simulate as closely as possible the movements used in running their special event, and hence the demands which racing makes on the body. In this way, the body's strength can be developed, with an emphasis on ensuring that the body is balanced in strength, and not lopsided with one side stronger than the other, as commonly occurs because most people are either right- or left-handed. A runner should be equally strong in both sides of the body - left and right - and have balanced strength between the front and back of the body.

Many athletes I treat for injuries are stronger on one side of the body than the other, and it is my belief that injuries are often caused by this imbalance. The weaker side is pushed or pulled by the stronger side until it gives out. The most common injury of this kind is of the hamstrings, resulting from unbalanced back strength. Weights used in training should therefore demand equal efforts from both sides of the body, and to achieve this I have found dumb-bells very useful. Many of the runners who decry the positive effects of weight training have gained their superior strength with the assistance of a good Doctor or Chemist. Others - like Sebastian Coe and Steve Scott - are open about the significant role that weight training has played in their training.

With dumb-bell exercises, you should try to use heavier and heavier weights up to as much as one-third or even one-half of your body weight. This is very difficult. If you are able to easily handle as many as three sets of ten repetitions of a particular weight, then the weight is too light. If you cannot do at least six repetitions, the weight is too heavy. The same rule applies to weights requiring a bar-bell. You should aim to work to at least two-thirds or more of your body weight with bar-bells. The ultimate test is to be able to lift the equivalent of your own body weight over your head. When you can do this, you will be strong enough for running events. Top field event performers and sprinters can lift weights up to the level of the very best weightlifters. Valery Borzov, 1972 Olympic 100- and 200-metre Champion, was fantastically strong. World record holder Jarmila Kratochvilova became so powerful that her femininity was drawn into question (actually, her fantastic ability was the result of almost 20 years of hard training).

I was first introduced to weight training in 1952 by John Disley, who handed me a bar with 15 pounds of weight on it. I was puny (though already British running champion and record holder at this time). The 15 pounds of weight was almost impossible for me to push over my head. My arms and upper body protested violently against the exercise, and after one session with this “massive” weight my muscles were dead. By the next day, however, I began to feel the positive effects of my efforts, with strength seemingly beginning to flow through my body. In no time at all, I felt my three-hour runs going better. I couldn't afford to buy my own weights or go to a gym, so I found a log of wood and started my weight training at home in the garden, with builder's lead nailed to the ends of the log. I got stronger and stronger and, suddenly, I was stunning people with my sprint finishes, as well as pounding many of my competitors out of sight before the sprint even came round.

In 1953, a generous gentleman from Surrey (whose name I have, regrettably, forgotten) gave me a set of weights after seeing a picture of my training “log” in the newspapers. I did weights in our back garden facing the kitchen window. My mother often pulled faces through the window as I did the repetitions, grunting and gasping, and I had to beg her not to break my concentration while I was going at it like hell, because it made me laugh! Al Murray, the famous weight lifter, gave me solid advice on what and how to do weights. I went at the weights very hard in 1954, and so started the season in fabulous form. I set a world record for a grass-track mile (4:05.2), then suffered a broken bone in my foot from an accident and missed the rest of the season...

From those early days on, weight training has been a part of my preparation for races, and that of the athletes I train, although I have on occasion been “kind” to many of my trainees in New Zealand, allowing them to get away with only hard running. I will not make that mistake again. From now on, it's weights and running or nothing.

The most astounding thing about weight-trained athletes is that they often don't look the part. It is possible to get very strong without looking like Mr Universe or Rambo. Some very thin- looking individuals can be extremely strong, despite their skinny muscles and frames. Weight training does not go hand-in-hand with muscle bulge, unless you either munch a lot of steroids, or do a lot of slow, easy pumping. When we do maniac, high speed, all-out maximum weights, we get very fast and strong without putting on any bulk at all (you will not begin to bulge all over the place, girls). Most truly super-fit people don't look the part; fitness is a hidden quality. But when they “operate”, however, their performances reveal those “hidden” talents. The opposite of this case is The Incredible Hulk, who can't even jog across a room to visit his girlfriend without needing a rest when he arrives.
Before getting onto the specifics of an effective weight-training protocol, here are some general guidelines about fitting weights into your overall programme:

How often should one do weight-training?
Every second or third day is about right, along with a full running programme (curtail your weights several days before a race). Your weight training should also continue through the height of the racing season. Do not give away all the good training you have done just when you need the greatest amount of strength.
How hard should the weight-training be?
There are two types of weight sessions: (1) a full-out session in which you do all and every exercise as hard as you can; and (2) an easier session with half-dosages of fewer exercises. It is not uncommon for a tired runner to feel much fitter after a moderate session with the weights. These sessions seem to flush out your muscles. On the other hand, the full-out, go-for-it, maximum sessions tend to put the body down a bit, and numb it for a while; so those sessions should never be attempted near to a race day (say within six days). The body does cope easily with easy routines, however, and I sometimes even find that a few exercises with strong weights before a three-hour running session can bring fantastic strength into the running, making it feel much easier.

I have always found my best running fitness - when I was able to set world records and finish races in stunning fashion - to be absolutely tied in with my best form with the weights. The stronger I was at grappling with the weights (combined with a lot of hard running), the better I was on race day. It is interesting to note that the New Zealand veteran Derek Turnball, who runs world records in his age group, does weight training nearly every day in the course of his job. He will deny this because he never touches a bar-bell, but he is doing hard physical work all day long on his farm, and is as strong as a horse. He also does his running at an elevated altitude in the mountains around his farm. Derek has three major strength factors at work in his daily life: he goes for long runs; he runs up and down mountain paths; and he does weight-training as a way of life.

If you are an average sedentary person, you are likely to be as weak as a chicken, the very opposite of Derek Turnball. If this is the case, go to a specialist in weight lifting and have him test you for back, leg and arm strength. You will be shocked by your weakness. Then do weights for a month and go back to be re-tested; this time you will be astounded by your improved strength. Your running will become easier, and you will begin to go faster and faster.

I have a chuckle every time I go into a health club. There are runners and tri-athletes playing silly games with puny weights, instead of getting “stuck in” and doing something that would be really beneficial for them. We go into the gym and smash away for 45 minutes to an hour, breathing like rhinoceroses, and then get out. The average inhabitants of the modern weight room fiddle about looking at themselves in the mirror, and never seem to get going. They are there for hours, sitting on their hands admiring their expensive gear and big muscles in the looking glass.

One example of this was Richard Okesene, who was New Zealand Javelin Champion. Richard had a fantastic body, at least that's what the girls told me, and would play around with huge weights - in fact, some enormous weights, in the 300- to 500-pound range. But his capabilities as an athlete were puny, compared with his apparently tremendous strength. His heart and circulation were so bad that he couldn't last out a dozen reps in a light-weight exercise session. His endurance was nil. By the time he had run up the 30 metres to throw the javelin, he was exhausted. After only three months of our style of weight training, plus some hard running, his best throw in the javelin went from 60 metres to 76 metres. If Richard continued in this style of training, I am sure he would be able to throw 100 metres. Athletes like Richard are to be found everywhere, but like the dinosaurs with their big bodies and little hearts, they are bound for extinction.

Before I began weight training, I was a long distance and cross country runner who could grind it out with anyone, but a constant loser in a sprint. A diet of hard weights, however, turned me into a complete competitor, one who could pour on the pace and still sprint madly at the finish. 

A great book if your interested it is free to download online. If further evidence is needed we can't forget Yoshihisa Hosaka who at 59 ran 2 hours and 34 mins for the Marathon. Although I don't know exactly what his day work consists of, or if he indeed does lift but you can tell by looking at him: He is strong!!

Yoshihisa Hosaka at 59 a World record holder.

Looking Forward (Sakai City Marathon)

Casey (my eldest son) won the 2.5K race at this years Sakai City Marathon. The more he runs the more my chances of ever beating him again fade and fade. ;)

Boston Marathon 2015 (Race Report)

I’d usually do a video blog post but I've got some time on this flight back home so I thought I'd write some thoughts on the Boston Marathon and talk about some general feelings on the subject.

The Boston Marathon is everything it's said to be. Coming from Japan where people are obsessed with marathon running I thought the marathon experience, in comparison, would be hard to top. But Boston Marathon did it.

The course and the people were frankly unbelievable. Each area you ran was a different atmosphere like the first one "Hopkinton" a small town full of pretty cottages, some dating back to the 17th century I was told. Leaving there my first 1K splits were 4:20, 4:20 and 3:50. The first K was purposely slow the 2nd I stopped to pull up my compression socks the ones that the guy who sold them to me assured me wouldn't come down. Anyway I was soon enough on marathon pace and glad I was able to hold back as I hadn't had any chance to warm up so the first few kilometers were my warm up. I had a chance to take in the enormity of it all and laughed at some eggheads that were full on sprinting through the forests on the sides of the road in order to pass us guys in the front of the first wave! I wonder how they fared? 

One amazing experience I'd like to recount is at the beginning of the race when the elite runners came out of the church passing right by us on their way to the start just in front of us. I high fived Meb Keflezighi, a dozen happy Africans, the eventual winner Lelisa Desisa and yelled out to Sage Canaday to "GET IT DONE SAGE!" Sage was going for an Olympic Qualifying Time (I've been following his training on YouTube.) The thing that struck me about the elite runners was that they were so small. I'm not a big guy but some of them were tiny and they all were beaming the absolute pictures of health and vitality. 

Anyway I won't go through every district we passed by but I’ll just say if you like running; like the Mecca for Moslems, Boston is something you ought to experience at least once in your running life. But before I leave this subject I’ve got to mention the crowd support as that was the most impressive thing for me. 

There were people 6 deep at times and they weren't always just politely clapping a lot were screaming, names and numbers. I lost count of how many people called my number a yelled "You've got this!" I didn't have my name anywhere on me but a couple of times during the race my full name was screamed and I almost stop in shock. The power of the Internet. It seems someone was watching my youtube posts too ;) I was concentrating on keeping on pace the whole race but did my fair share of high fiving. I really don't ever think of myself as anything special but the genuine shouts of "You're awesome" from kids was great and I took it all in. I'm sure these kids will grow up and run this marathon one day. A more worthwhile and realistic dream than playing for the NBA I reckon.

Anyway..

As for my performance, I , of course, wanted to do better given the training I did going in I expected a better time but there was a lot I can take from this race and overall and I'm not disappointed. The first 25k went very smoothly I was running well within myself and holding back for the last half. It may sound cocky, especially considering I didn’t reach my pre marathon goal but I think this course is not difficult. Having said that it probably would take a few times running it, to get it right. I didn’t have much trouble with my quads I think the hard down hills I did in my training paid off and the up hills on this course weren’t the problem for me. Again I don’t want to sound like an asshole but the first time I realized I was on “Heartbreak Hill” was when I saw a guy on the top of it holding a sign to that effect. So why couldn't I finish off as fast as I started?

A couple reasons/excuses I reckon. Firstly I wasn’t so fresh going in. While I didn’t have any major problem with my glutes, the problems that have been plaguing me for the past few years, I did have a lot of sore spots going in. I stupidly did a hard speed session a couple of days after I arrived in Boston while suffering from a case of dehydration. This left me feeling sick and with muscle pains behind the knees, on the shins and hamstrings. I basically had to stop all running in order to repair the damage I did then until race day. It is just so hard to get things right. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say so in my defense it did seem like the right thing to do at the time.

The major problem as I see it with this race was the cold. Felt about 2 to 3 degrees celsius on the course. The first half was relatively dry considering what it was like the hour before the race and the hours after the start. I did my best to shelter behind some groups but when the wind picked up and the rain came down in heavier showers it chilled me to the bone and had my calves and just about every other muscle below my chest tightening up. I was on the edge of cramping to a stop the last 10km. I’m happy I didn’t stop, it would have made things worse, despite wanting to and while I was being passed I kept moving forward which, you all know, is a difficult thing to do.

The last mile was hard but I really enjoyed taking it all in and running up “Boylston Street” to the best of my depleted ability. After I stopped running I chatted to a few of my fellow finishers but within 5 minutes I was going into hypothermia and was in zombie mode just doing my best not to stop walking as every time I did I would cramp up like I’ve never done before. To tell the truth I thought I was in serious trouble but I couldn’t even tell it to anyone there. I was feeling so sick and cramping with so much pain. I managed to get back to my house, still wet and shaking, the owner ran me a boiling hot bath and after taking it and throwing up I began to feel better. The day after, while I have sore legs, I’m still hopeful I can run faster and my future goals have not changed. I want a sub 2:40 marathon and a 34 minute 10K.

Races that don’t go to plan, be those two or a dozen, don’t define us. What defines us not only as runners but as good human beings is getting back to it undeterred, searching for a way forward.

Thanks to all that made this trip and race so memorable.

Here come the hills

Finding some air late in the race.

Boston Marathon Final Report (Live from the finish line)

What I'll be wearing on Monday's marathon

Last Week! Boston Marathon here I come!

Boston Getting Close!

Great weather week for training under the Cherry Blossoms.

Counting Down. 3 weeks to go Boston Marathon.

Boston Marathon (4 weeks out).

I said in the video I wanted to be 66kgs at the start of the Boston marathon. I meant 56kgs. I'm about 58~9 now so should be able to do it. On top of everything else weight is a key factor in running fast for me/everyone. Hard for us old guys to get down the weight as we, most of us, have years of bad eating/drinking habits. What is particularly hard for me is not putting it all back on during the taper. Anyway if I can be 56kgs at the starting line that will be new territory for me and, I hope, a contributing factor to a new Personal Record.

Boston Marathon Training 2015 (building mileage)

I forgot to tell you I got my Bib # and corral place for Boston. Pretty near the front I think. My number will be 1169 and I'll go in the first wave 2nd corral. Than place should get me over the line within a few minutes of the official gun start. Anyone know anything about that?

Boston Marathon 2015 Training Report

Boston Marathon 2015 Training Report

       

Have a look at the above chart. The 60.2 would be about me at this stage, my Garmin gave me another point, now I'm 60, on my VO2 Max after my run today March 3rd. I heard of another way to measure from some Danish fellow who reckons if you simply take your Maximum Heart rate and divide it by your Resting Heart Rate and times (X) it by 15 you'll get pretty close to your Vo2 Max. For me, doing that calculation it brings me to 64.5 which I'd be happy to take. How does that calculation work for you? Does it get anywhere near what you think your potential after training is?

8 Weeks and Counting Boston Marathon 2015

Note: Of course when I was talking about my 5x1500m runs I meant my heart rate was between 160 ~ 65 BPM around 90% of my max HR.

Boston Marathon Training in Earnest.

The link below to my Garmin Connect profile page.




https://connect.garmin.com/page/profile/minprofile.faces?displayName=SamuraiScott

OSAKA

Chika does a good job of explaining just what Osaka is all about. Great for anyone who is thinking of coming for a visit.

Boston Training's a Go!

Running Form Check.

Again Happy New Year friends. Hope you and yours get everything you work for this year! Looking forward to it!! I took a slow motion video of my eldest son to check his form in the hope of making him faster. Please, I'd appreciate if you'd take a look at it and give your two cents worth. I'll comment on what I think he can improve but only after listening to what you have to say. Cheers! And after this maybe me. I could do with a little adjusting.