Imabari City Marathon

　　I took part in the Imabari City 10km Run again. I wanted to run faster than last year when I recorded 67 minutes. I was able to finish in 65 minutes this time, but to tell the truth, I was going to finish within 60 minutes. I'm sorry not to have been able to fulfill myself. I'll try again.

(Vocabulary)
fulfill yourself (仕事などで) 持てる力を出し切る

Comments

[KUMO]

Thanks! Hill running, great! I'll try!

[Shiroi Tora]

Although you hadn't done so well as you had hoped...still, you are looking trim.

A great way to improve you time in the 10k is to, once a week, do a much longer run (16 kilometers). Also, you will wish to extend anaerobic threshold twice a week by running your 10k practice runs in an interval fashion. There are many ways, but one way is by time. You would run at a much faster pace for a minute (getting out of breath near the end of the minute), followed by a slower recovery pace for a minute...over and over for the duration of the training run. This will force your body to adapt to the buildup of lactic acid. You will then be able to run faster without getting numb or out of breath when you run the distance at a faster sustained rate (you will stay aerobic while running faster than before).

Another great way is to do hill runs. This forces so much in the way of adaptation that your times will drop precipitously. Your regular runs will also become almost effortless. Your lung capacity and heart stroke volume, leg endurance, stamina, and strength, will build more quickly than with almost any other form of running.

Hill running will be the most difficult running you will experience, but the rewards will be immense. Whether or not you find a long incline to run up and run back down once for 10k, by running a succession of hills, or by running up and down the same hill in succession for 10k...there is no finer training. If you could do all of your training runs using hills, you would need nothing else. By running hills, you will get in the shape of your life.