Time to Switch into High Gear

Last Monday I jogged again from work, and while a back ago the distance was a little long for me, now it is quite easy to complete. I guess this means that it is time for me to run longer, at a stronger pace and to venture onto trails. And lucky for me, next weekend is the NH3 Nash Hash, where I can run on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday! I may not run so much on Sunday as I will lay the course in the morning, but depending on my feeling, I might go on the 'ballbreaker' trail which is about 15km with two big down-and-ups.

This increased stamina certainly helped last night when I went to the Manu Chao concert at club Quattro, Osaka. I was right at front, jumping, screaming, sweating, moshing like everyone around me. Truly one of the best shows I've been to! I shot a few shots during the concert, you can see them here.

Stamina Jog

I went for a jog today, and I call it a stamina jog since I had a good run two days ago, went to my capoeira lesson last night (a lot of fun, with our contra mestre's birthday; I got him good when he went a little too soft on me with a scorpion kick) followed by some intense bicycle riding back home. Today my legs did feel a l little sore, but after spending a few hours editing my first ever commercial, I felt I needed to go out for a bit of exercise. I did a short jog, just under 5k mostly on grass with my trailrunners on my feet.

Instead of jogging the last few hundred meters, I did a little bit of capoeira, working on my meia lua and forearm equilibrium. This week has surprised me in that even if in the past weeks, months to be honest,  I haven't been exercising so much. Thursday on a longish run I felt good, last night's lesson didn't tire me out as in other times, and I even went jogging this afternoon, training for three days straight. Hopefully I'll keep it up and get in better shape.

I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but this week I started doing 10 push ups randomly during the day (let's go for another set). I do it for capoeira, and elite runners would avoid it to keep their upper body mass low, but I jog for health and peace of mind, and strong arm do help with some of my favorite moves in capoeira, mainly handstands and equilibriums. Next step are sit-ups and crunches, that would definitely help keep my weight down and my center of gravity... centered!

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.

Today is a Hashing Day

We had a great r*n with the KFMH3 today. I say r*n because early one, I decided that it would be a good occasion to do some speed training for the Kyoto Mountain race. And since we were in the countryside, it made my efforts all that much easier. Field after field, traditional home after traditional home, riverside after riverside, my train fare investment were much more than compensated.

Running faster than usual, even with little training recently, felt great. Hopefully I can keep it up and break my not so great personal time. But I'm getting ahead of me, it is much too early to even think about that. I leave you with some shots snapped along the course.

Rice drying after harvest.

I liked the wood here.

Me an my main man, Doreamon!

Who lives here, seriously!

Having fun at the Moon Check.

At the KFMH3, we don't just run for the beer at the end...

As kids, my brother and I dreamed of a house were everything we'd want was only a push of a button away; Japan is on the right track.

Our host's home will basically be torn down and rebuilt next year; I hope they keep these great sliding doors.

Run To See This

As some of you know, amongst my many jobs, I help the Osaka European Film Festival, taking pictures, entertaining foreign guests and so on. This year, I'm also in charge of writing the movie resumes in English, meaning that I get to see all the movies before everyone. Life is hard, isn't it?

The last one I watched is The Robber (Der Rauber), a German-Austrian coproduction. It tells the true story of Johann Rettenberger, a.k.a Pump-Gun Ronnie, a bank robber who also won several races, including the Vienna marathon! To say the least, the police have a hard catching him! It's a good movie for all of us joggers/runners, and anyone else who enjoys crime stories and great cinema. It was also featured at the New York Film Festival recently, so there is a chance it will available in some select theaters in North America. As for Japan, you only chance to see it might be at the OEFF, so don't miss your chance when it comes around in November.

Bad, Then Good

Last Thursday was one of the lowest point in my jogging endeavors. I try once a week to jog home from work, a distance of 12-15 km depending on the route I take. And for the first time ever, I could not finish last week. I did walk the rest of the way, but my legs just wouldn't jog. There was total refusal on my body to go on jogging. It was quite frustrating as I felt sort of OK, my legs didn't hurt or anything, they just wouldn't jog. I'm at a loss to explain it. I think it could be due to the fact the during the day, I was drinking lightly apple-vinegared water. But three months away from the Sanjurokumine mountain race, it wasn't something I expected.

So it was apprehensively that I made my way to the KFMH3 run yesterday. The weather was pretty hot, I knew the course wouldn't be short, since returnee Wanda was the hare. We had two visitors from the Tokyo area, In Your Dreams and Where's the Beef. They were visiting Kyoto and came for our run. It's always fun to have visitors from other kennels come to our outings. And as expected, the course wasn't so short, but I did manage to jog the whole course, often going longer at different check points. The moon check was in a park, which luckily had a water fountain, although the water was pretty tepid.

But as previously mentioned, the biggest satisfaction was being able to finish the course jogging. Hopefully last Thursday was just a fluke, and I look forward to jogging home again, something I'm considering doing tonight.

No Dogs This Time

A quick review on two runs I had recently. First, I went for a quick jog last Wednesday. As I was off that day, I set out around 8:30a.m. and took one of my regular course near my place. The distance is about 7km, which under normal circumstances is not a problem. But as I related last time, I haven't been exercising much recently, and it was pretty hot even this early in the morning, so the run was a little tough. But I could finish it without any major setbacks, and it put me in a good and relaxed mood for a interview with a TV director (check www.terophoto.blogspot.com for more info on that).

Then tonight I ran home from work, along the same path where a bunch of worthless canines had tried to intimidate me a few weeks back. When I set off on trail, my legs and body felt unresponsive and I thought the outing would be quite taxing. I kept quite a slow pace in the beginning, but with the music playing in my music player and the nice wind along the Yodo river, soon I was going at it easily. The moment of truth occurred when I decided that this was going to be a stamina session, not a speed or power build-up one. From then, I really felt good, especially after crossing the river when I ran along an unpaved path on top of the dike.

Soon I arrived in the 'danger zone', and I proceeded to take my bottle in one hand and half unhook my backpack in case the flea bags would want to play again. Actually, I think I saw them lazing in the middle of a baseball field, perhaps exhausted from the hot temperatures we had today. In any case, I jogged on through, enjoying the fireworks kids were setting off on the banks of the river.

After going through Juso, I jogged along the main road back to my place. Even when I went up the bridge passing over a train line, my pace did not lessen, and I felt great the whole time. I think I could have easily run another 2-3km tonight, and even pushed for an extra 5 if I would have really wanted it. But the sight of the two Shisha lions at the shrine near my place was more than welcome.

After my shower, I made a tofu and frozen fruit shake. I'll need to work on the recipe, mainly because of the consistency. But it felt nice nonetheless. I think that from now on and until the Sanjurokumine race in December, I'll avoid as much as possible deep fried food. I did put on a few kilos in the past month, possibly due to my cold, but also because of the munchies I've indulged in late at night.

Sorry...

... about the long delay. I'll be completely honest, I haven't run much recently. Most of the runs I did were with the KFMH3. Not that the heat deterred me (well, it did a little), but the constant switch for screeching hot and humid to very air-conditioned atmosphere wreaked havoc on my system this year.

Today we had a run from Hankyu Kawanishi Ikeda and it was excellent. The hare (course designer), Man* ophobia did an outstanding job, and even if the course was a little long (for me at least, and I finished 1st!), it was very entertaining throughout. A few weeks back I scouted and hared for trails for the Nagoya H3 Nash Hash event, and hopefully our runs will be as entertaining (although they'll be more challenging, that's for sure)!

Jog Report and Program for Beginners

I jogged from work again tonight, although I took a different route. Not because the dogs scare me, but simply because I wanted a shorter route. As an added bonus, I passed across many felines, many of whom stayed in the middle of the path unperturbed even if I jogged less than a meter away. Cats really are smarter than dogs.

By taking tonight course, I cut down 2-3km, and even then, as I didn't exercise much recently, I had to stop to walk a few times. I think it is a direct result of Monday's 'big' run and tonight's higher humidity. But the important part was actually going out there and finishing jogging, so mission accomplished.

For those interested in starting jogging, here is the URL to the program my friend Simon, inspiration for this blog, followed with success. In 9 weeks he went from a couch potato to a couch potato who can run 5km non-stop! (Sorry Simon, it was too easy)

But more seriously, I believe he hadn't exercised since college a number of years ago, so I think it attests to the program's effectiveness. On his Facehook page, I read a comment by a common friend who also used and can now jog 28 minutes non-stop. If you are just starting, I strongly encourage you to try it.

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Encounter With The Canine Kind

I hate dogs. Well, hot dogs aren't that bad, and so are corn dogs, which are actually called 'American Dogs' in Japan.

Last night I jogged home from work, in high humidity although it was not that hot (it was past 8:00p.m. when I set out). It was hard out of the door, and it took me some time to find my pace, but once I did, I felt I was jogging as a slightly faster pace than usual. Crossing the pedestrian bridge over the Yodo river gave me some added impetus, and I felt comfortable by then.

Most of the remaining trail is along the river, which passes next to an approach gold course, some baseball fields and some blue tent (homeless) encampments, many of whom keep dogs. I often see them sitting by the road, just lazing around, while others bark from a distance at times, but except for one encounter while on bicycle a good while ago, they've never seemed dangerous or aggressive.

Until last night.

It's kind of spooky because I remember that approaching the spot where they have been barking recently, I imagined telling them to relax as it was only me, the gaijin jogger who passes from time to time. Maybe by thinking this, I released some pheromones that smelled of fear, but out of the bushes, two or three them came out running and barking.

Of course my first reaction was one of fear, but quickly I remembered that with animals, composure and attitude are everything, and I started barking, too, in French Canadian mind you! I also figured that, like an umbrella being opened (it really works against dogs, ask any mail carrier), my backpack, containing clothes, wallet and water bottle, would work as a good deterrent, or a weapon in the worst case scenario. I unclipped it and swung it over my shoulder, the bottle going out flying, hitting the pavement with a bang. This seemed to have unsettled the leader of the pack, who took a few steps back, encouraged by my continuing raving.

I picked up my bottle, holding both items in separate hands, banging them together and swinging them around. This also gave me the chance to see if I were the only one of my kind around, partly by embarrassment, partly hoping to get better numbers on my side. But by then, the dogs were barking a lot less, showing much more defense than offense. Continuing insulting them in my deepest voice, I started walking away, keeping my most intimidating stance (not very), keeping an eye on them, making sure not to look as if I was running away, even if it were the case. Less than 50 meters away, their barking had stopped, but I was still fuming.

I took a short break, put my bottle in its holder, and started jogging again. I approached a bridge where the Midosuji subway line and a boulevard pass over another homeless grouping. A dog was around, but I guess it had heard the previous encounter, and alone, it didn't even dare make a whimper. By the time I was on the other side of the overpass, there were quite a few people around, and finally I felt completely safe.

I climbed up the dike, and started on the final river stretch all the way to Juso. I started to feel some fatigue, but I really wanted to continue jogging. It didn't prove to be too hard, although as I neared the shrine near my place, the temptation to walk grew stronger. But after the canine encounter and visualizing strongly finishing the Kyoto Sanjuromine 30km mountain race next December, there was no way I was going to stop short.

In the end, my time was average, around 90 minutes, and I did do a bit most stretching than usual, thinking about capoeira. Today my thighs did hurt a little going down stairs, but nothing bad.

Returning to the dog scare, my reaction kind of surprises me. To be honest, if I had thought about such an encounter before, I might not have bet on my side coming out stronger. Except for the first second or so, I never panicked, and quickly took control of the situation. It's the kind of experience out of which you come out stronger, finding inner strength where you doubted you had any. I think that from today on, dogs will intimidate me a lot less. I really understand the expression that their bark is a lot bigger than their bite. We domesticated those lesser wolves, not the other way around. I'd add an derogatory using a term describing female dogs, but I'll keep this decent.