Training R n (my keyboard is acting funny)

I ran back home tonight. As I mentioned before, evening runs are some of my favorite, as it allows me to zone out from my usual routine. There were times during the run when I really felt 'in the zone', in tune with the environment, unconcerned yet aware of all outside occurrences. Of course it happened on the straightest part of the course, where no dog, no car, no drunken salaryman could bother me. I wouldn't call it a runner's high, which is more physical; I guess it was like meditation, which I have no real experience of.

I took a slightly modified 'dog' course tonight, going up and down the dikes to build up some muscle power for all the ups and downs of the Kyoto mountain race. I kept a good pace for most of the course, and felt good until I stopped for some post-run protein. Walking in the supermarket, my legs seemed to sort of give up, but I didn't really pay attention to it, focused on finding some good looking tofu (this one was called okasan)! As I got out and started jogging again (by then I was in my cool down section), I was quite hard to go forward, my legs having cooled down too much and outside temperature feeling a little cold. But with my December goal in mind, I trudged on until the local shrine, trying to fudge the pain away.

Post run, I did a fair amount of stretching, especially for my Achilles tendons as my ankles hurt me a bit in the last part of the run; I think this was due to some jogging along a horizontally inclined slope, putting more stress on my left leg. The stretching felt great, and I did some focused towards running, some for capoeira, my favorite cross training. After a shower, I had the tofu with some Thai dressing and whole bunch of vegetables (I probably splurged on the celery a little too late).

All in all, it was great outing. I ran at a pretty good pace; I did some extra training by going up and down the dikes 4 or 5 times; and the extra stretching will pay off in the medium-long term. Your turn now, go a little beyond your usual distance/effort during your next training.