This week I had a very interesting day hanging with Reiko Tosa, (WorldChamp Silver medallist at Edmonton) and Yoko Shibui (4th at Worlds, Japanese 10km recordholder and 2;23 champion Osaka 2001).
Reiko, another runner named Miki (a 1;09 half marathoner), myself and their coach went out to a training ground about 30km south of Kunming. The track is hardpacked dirt/mud, and we all trained in training shoes.
Yoko Shibui is training for Chicago, so she is on a different schedule, she was out for a 2 hour jog. Reiko is training for the Japanese championship 10km on 29Sept. Reiko and Miki were going to do 3x2000.
We warmed up: I warmed up with my usual 5km at steady pace about 4;00 per km. They warmed up by WALKING, then jogging, REALLY REALLY SLOW, for about 20 minutes. Reiko told me that they would go 6:40. I paced the 2kms for them, and when we got going, it was obvious that they wanted to go....FAST. Keep in mind that this is at 6400 feet altitude. We whipped out the 2000s in 6;10-6;15, and I did another 2 of the 2000s by myself, while they finished off with a 1000 in 2;50-55. A solid session for all of us, considering the altitude and dirt track.
They cooled down again with REALLY REALLY REALLY slow jogging and then again WALKING.
We get in the van and head back to the city. About 2km from the hotel, there's Yoko Shibui, JOGGING and I do mean JOGGING, not running, in a hat, full track suit and A WARM COAT over the track suit. It was raining, but it was a warm day about 60 degrees Farenheit. I did the session shirtless, shorts-only as usual (Must've turned the girls on big-time HA HA HA HA HA!!). Yoko was probably going about 9;00-10;00 PER MILE.
Here is my very broad generalization about the Japanese program:
(1) When you do your long distance and recovery runs, GO SLOW....REALLY SLOW....but run a ton of miles. Reiko and Yoko are doing about 250km/week right now. Atsushi Fujita does about 300km per week in hard training.
(2) When you do your intervals and tempos, GO LIKE FUCKING CRAZY!!!! During the 2000s, Reiko and Miki sounded like they were in pain from the first lap of the first 2km. I turn around and glancd at Reiko after 500meters of the first 2000 and she already had a very pained expression on her face.
Right now I am up in Dali, China, getting some fresh air. I am training hard for the Seoul Marathon on 3November!!! I'm going up to Zhongdian (10000 feet altitude) just to see how it feels for training for a week. Going back to Kunming on the 25th and then racing halfmarathon in Japan on 6October.
Cheers, jason