Track and Field school

Starting on Friday, all the best Senior High School track and field athletes in Kyoto Prefecture have been attending a special four day training camp in Kyotamba. I got invited to join in one of the sessions yesterday. The middle distance runners were divided into three groups. The session set was six 1000M repetitions with a 400M jog recovery. The pace was 3 minutes 10 secs per rep for group A, 3:20 for group B and 3:30 for group C. Ambitiously, I opted to run with group A, consisting of eight 16-17 year old students.

The group ran the whole session in single file, with students taking turns at the front to lead and set the pace. I decided to run at the back of the group, not wanting to get in the way or disrupt the session. The group stayed in close contact for the first three reps. During the fourth and fifth rep, I and two other runners drifted a little off the back of the pack. 300M into the last rep I realised that these two other runners had dropped out of the session, so I had to run it by myself. It was a good session, though the pace was just slightly beyond the upper edge of what I am capable of at the moment. About one hundred young athletes attended the training camp. It was incredibly well organised and impressive to see.

Kyotamba Track and Field school

On a different note, I received a welcome surprise in the post this week. I was the third fastest over-30 year old male finisher in the Uji River 10K race that I ran four weeks ago. Not realising this at the time, I didn’t stay around at the end of the race to claim my prize. Having tracked me down, the race organisers kindly posted out an impressive trophy, bronze medal and certificate.