 Road running looks much the same on any continent! | There were many reasons (mostly attempts to synchronise intercontinental term times) completely unrelated to running that resulted in a 10 day trip to Japan in the middle of April this year. That this coincided with my theoretical taper (I'm still not using a training plan... seems pointless to reinstate it now!) inevitably brought with it both pros and cons. On the plus side, it would pretty much force me to back off the miles, despite my inherent dislike of long tapers, and that I find the concept completely counterintuitive, at least superficially. |
Though the friend I would be visiting is also a runner and I did go running in the neighbourhood several times in my last stay, cranking up a 50 mile week would be antisocial at best and there would be lots of opportunities for enjoying rest and recuperation without any sense of frustrated obligation. Conversely, changes to routine and diet, a lack of opportunities to cross train and a couple of substantial doses of jet lag chucked into the mix might not be ideal, but I decided that worrying about that stuff was really over thinking the whole thing. More to the point, this was my last chance to return to Tamana and visit my friends before the birth of their son in May and that seemed far more important than attempting to accommodate any impending maranoia.
| What I couldn't have known when booking my flights back in February, was that a recurrence of issues with my right ITB (iliotibial band; the long muscle running from hip to knee on the outside of the thigh) would have significantly more impact on my tapering mileage than any travel plans. Despite my enjoyment of the trip, this has proved to be the single biggest worry I have at present in relation to my second 'official' marathon, in London just one week hence. Many of my kind hosts were very forthcoming in expressing their admiration (or at least surprise, it's hard to tell how much is lost in translation) when learning of this impending challenge, however I was unable to fully relish any sense of build up due to the niggling worries the ITB pain has brought with it. I've tried to balance resting it with not totally stopping, though reminding myself of my reasons for deleting the training plan and the assertion that I should reach the start line uninjured, has helped reign in too many pointless 'testing' runs, despite the frustration. |  Run Fuel Japanese Style; Making Mochi! (Rice balls with bean paste)  And because it's not all carbs and protein... a visit to the orangery! |
Thankfully, recreational running is not an unusual activity in Japan and so I didn't attract too many strange looks (beyond the usual curiosity)! Tamana has a wide and sprawling rural 'belt' and it's in part of this that my friends live, so alongside the suburban stretches of residential roads interspersed with a spattering of 'Izakayas' (bar/restaurant hybrids) and 'combinis' (local conveniences, usually 7-11 or a similar franchise), there are more aesthetically pleasing views of waving barley (important for producing my favourite Japanese drink, mugi cha, a tea made from roast barley that tastes a bit like very weak coffee), green rice fields and towering bamboo forests. The sight of roadside Shinto shrines is an equally common one and I also became accustomed to the creaking sound of frogs chattering to one another in the cool spring nights, a welcome change from the irritating rattle of cicadas, which was a more noticeable running soundtrack during my summer visit in 2013.
At the start of the week I ran 2 5k loops followed by a 10k with my friend across 3 days. After the 10k, the pain and tightness had flared up again, so I held back for 2 days, afraid of stimulating inflammation.
At the start of the week I ran 2 5k loops followed by a 10k with my friend across 3 days. After the 10k, the pain and tightness had flared up again, so I held back for 2 days, afraid of stimulating inflammation.
| Attempts to self medicate with far more protein than my body can probably even utilise, delivered in tofu form, along with an entirely medicinal (ahem) trip to a local onsen (natural volcanic hot springs rich in various minerals) appeared to ease things somewhat. As such, I felt able to indulge in a final slow 5 miles the night before leaving, which resulted in some soreness but not as much as earlier in the week so that's probably fairly positive. |  Last 5 miles... |
At least 24 hours enforced rest (kind of!) on the flight home and then plenty of swimming seems on the cards for the coming week. At this point in time I think I really have to heed the advice I'd give any other runner in my position. Not much is going to change in fitness with just 7 days to race day anyway so it would be better to not run at all between now and then, arriving on the start fresh and as healed as possible, than to engage in pointless angst ridden miles 'to see how it is' and wind up swollen and sore with 26.2 emotionally loaded miles staring you in the face. Even putting London aside, risking a longer term injury that throws a spanner in the rest of the races I've enthusiastically booked for the 2015 season would be equally daft.
 Tamana Public Foot Onsen. Not exactly Piccadilly Gardens fountain... | What will be will be and the ego is just going to have to take a back seat again while body calls the shots. I will get round London, on my hands and knees if I have to, so the best I can hope for is, as always, to stay healthy and run happy. My fingers are crossed...but not my toes. They will have to stay resolutely firm and straight, though they're already missing Tamana public foot onsen, a treat I'd recommend for any runner's tired tootsies! |
| Incidentally, one interesting observation made thanks to the in flight information system, is that since January, I have run in total further than the distance from Manchester to Amsterdam. Now there's a challenge... |  Miles go by pretty fast on this scale... |
