As I sit here taking a couple nips from my freshly purchased flask of Wild Turkey 8 year Kentucky bourbon, I contemplate winter.

The fatigue that has hit me with the shift in seasons is unreal. That warm, cozy, time-to-hibernate-and-eat-a-lot-of-sweets-and-fatten-up-and-I-don’t-want-to-go-outside feeling has hit me full force. It’s always a bit hard for me to adjust to the changing seasons. Plus, it’s dark now by five, which strikes me as...ridiculous, in a way.

And this is why I never expect to be featured in any “serious” running blogs.

I ran in the underground tunnel today to avoid the weather. Just 3-point-something miles, but it was a much needed run. I had taken the previous two nights off with a cold and fatigue, and I could tell tonight when I started my run that my muscles had been getting a bit used to the inactivity. At least, that’s how it seemed.

No, no, guys. Time to wake the fuck up. We have an ULTRAMARATHON to run in April!

I realized tonight as I ran in the tunnel that I am going to need to approach winter training differently. I could get a gym membership and run on a treadmill, but that is fucking boring. I have the tunnel, which is a big bonus, and it’s right by my house, and has a large parking lot. This works well for rainy nights, like tonight. Snow and cold are not such big problems, and rain can be dealt with, but is a real drag in the winter. The tunnel will help me out on these types of nights.

Look how cheerful and summer-y it looks outside.

The thing I realized is that if I am going to be consistent and really be well-prepared for this race in April, I am going to have to take things slowly,

so that I don’t burn out, and can keep up with my consistency, which is ultimately more important than blasting through super fast or super long runs all the time. It’s not like summertime where everything is warm, the sun is out, and your body is generally loose and ready to move. Back in more primal days, only crazy idiots would have not fattened up and ran out of the cave every night into the howling wind to die. It’s genetic memory, telling me not to do it, man. Pure fuckin’ lunacy.

So. 5K runs throughout the week as a standard, with some long runs on weekends. On weeks prior to long run weekends and double long run weekends I can build up from 5K as the week progresses to get ready.

With conditions as they are, I think to beat winter I am going to have to kill the ego for a second, and do shorter, more consistent runs. This way I stay motivated to run more often. I also need something to focus on, prior to the race, which brings me to...

The First Annual (and maybe only ever?) Yahiko Snow Run!

I am going to run my own full marathon alone as a halfway goal to look forward to and keep me training hard. I am going to run down to one of my favorite Shinto shrines and finish off with a dip in the hot springs down there, in Yahiko Village. I need to do this for myself. I’ll be posting the course here soon. It would be great if I could get some others to join me, but a full marathon run in the winter time doesn’t seem like an easy sell, really. Oh well. Onward!

source.

Finally, some Steem promotion/Crypto ideas for the race.

I’ve mentioned before both on this blog and the @steemcityniigata blog that I really enjoy geocaching Bitcoin with an app called Takara (“treasure,” in Japanese) for iOS. Thanks to some ideas from @dobartim, I’m considering stashing some Bitcoin along the Fuji 5Lakes trail, and making the pick up question something about Steemit.com (to pick up geocached coins with Takara, the user has to answer a security question often in the form of a question or riddle).

For example, I could stash a coin along the trail, and when another user picks it up, they would have to answer a question like, “what social media site is blockchain based?” Alternatively, no matter what the security question, the “dropper” can add a congratulatory message at the end, after the coin has been picked up. I have already used “check out Steemit.com” as such a message once on the app.

I’m pretty excited about this and am still developing the ideas. If you have any ideas relating to how I could promote Steem/Steemit.com through this ultramarathon experience, do let me know!

Well, I guess that’s about it for this one. Steem on, and keep running!

~KafkA

_*

PREVIOUS FUJI 5LAKES TRAINING BLOGS:

Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)

Fuji 5Lakes Training Blog - 11.22.17 - Training in winter is tough / My own private marathon / Crypto ideas for the race