Never underestimate the damage after a race.

After Suzu tri, I had no sore at all and felt perfectly fine. I thought "Gee, tri is amazing! I won't need any recovery period". Then I did 30k a week after the race and next day I did a tempo run and felt great!

Two days later, when I was doing quick move drills (knee-up), I heard a big crack in my front-right hip joint and pulled the quad (大腿四頭筋). I went to see a doctor* and he said that this is the muscle you use intensively for bike, not running, so it should be caused by not having enough recovery time after the tri. He has a point.

Lessons I learned. Never underestimate the damage after a race. Even if you don't feel it, your body is tired.

I took 4day complete rest, then started to run again. It's been 10 days and today I ran 22.5km, carefully. It's a kind of giri-giri, but I am still hoping to catch up for my real race Tokyo Women's Marathon in November. I am trying to be optimistic, cautiously though.

*Kimura Seikeigeka Iin (木村整形外科医院)
The sports doctor Taeko and Yoshiko introduced me a while ago. It's in Hatsudai. He knows very well about running. I felt his diagnosis and explanation was quite reasonable. If you have someone to help you in Japanese language, it's worth seeing him.

Coming back to runner's life.

The tri experience left me glorious memory. Now, I quickly have to shift to runner's training programme.

This morning, I ran 31km. This is the first over 30k since London Marathon in April. I started around 6:30am. The weather was perfectly cool with a little bit of rain. I ran through Yoyogi park, Harajuku, National Stadium area, Akasaka Palace, 3 laps of the Imperial Palace, then came back with the same route.

I ran about 5:40 to 5:11/km pace and felt OK till the end. Good.

I came across Gareth and Katakura-san in Yoyogi park when I came back.

◎Tuesday, 21 Aug.
Run: 11.5k fartlek at Yoyogi Park
Swim: 1.1k

◎Wednesday, 22 Aug.
Run: 5.5k in the morning at Yoyogi Park
15.2k in the evening at Oda field, 1200/1200/1000/1000/800/800 5:00/4:58/3:56/4:01/3:19/3:05

◎Thursday, 23 Aug.
Run: 5.8k jog

◎Friday, 24 Aug.
Run: 6k jog
Swim: 1k

◎Sunday, 26 Aug.
Race

●Weekly mileage (run)
67km

◎Tuesday, 28 Aug.
Run: 11.5k

◎Wednesday, 29 Aug.
Run: 5.5k in the morning at Yoyogi Park, 14.6k in the evening at Oda field (5k TT 21:24 total, 4:37/4:24/4:16/4:11/4:06)

◎Thursday, 30 Aug.
Run: 10.5k at Yoyogi Park

◎Friday, 31 Aug.
Run: 10.3k around the neighbourhood

●Monthly mileage for August (run)
384.7km

◎Saturday, 1 Sep.
Run: 31km

Coming back to night shift.

Because of this fierce heat in Tokyo, I am giving up the morning runs these days. This evening, I ran around Picture Gallery with escalating pace. The air in center of Tokyo is now better because of Obon holiday.

◎Tuesday, 14
Run: 11km at aerobic pace, up to 4:35/km pace.

Track.

Swam in the morning. I think I am getting better and feel easier in the water than pre TI era. Still need lots of practice.

In the evening we did a sort of big ladder, 800m/1200m/1600m/1200m/800m/400m. I wasn't brilliant, but kept pushing until the end. (Thanks to ultra girl Kuri-chan)

◎Today
Swim: 1.5km at Olympic Centre
Run: 13.1km total at Oda field