runmotozo

Coast to coast!

2010-10-29T19:44:00.001-07:00

Japan is a country small enough where you can ride your bike
coast to coast in one weekend.

Thanks to Phil the Rhino, I learned that the half-fast group was making the cross-country trip, and after some coercion from Phil, I decided to make the journey.

Coast to coast in 2 days.
10 riders.
220 kilometers.
130 miles.
Lots of fun.

First stop: family time!

Dinner with my cousin Mayumi in 仙台市 Sendai:

真由美 and her 2 darlings

恭之介ヤスノスケ/帆奈ハンナ, Yasunosuke and Hanna.

They were very genki. Notice the resemblances? -_-

....The next day we began the bike tour in beautiful Matsushima on the Pacific Ocean,
about 20 clicks north of Sendai.......
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...."oh Matsushima, oh Matsuhima", we exclaimed as we gazed at
the mystic islands and Pacific Ocean beyond.
And so, we headed west to the Sea of Japan from Matsushima.....

..............It was actually an easy first day, with lots of shrines, temples to
see, local cuisine to taste, etc....................

....And don't forget the ponds....
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...koi koi koi...

...c'mon koi!

親父.
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...we stayed at a nice ryokan near Naruko onsen the first night...equipped with karaoke of course....
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My voice has a certain effect on people...especially drunk ones.........

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Sumie and Peter, the dynamic duo.
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.......Naruko Onsen 鳴子温泉...a view to a kill....

And the weather behaved...that blue in the background is the sky.
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They are called kaki... -_-　　
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Not to be confused with
kakikukeko...親父
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no shortage of cameras on this trip...
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...crossing the border from Miyagi Prefecture...
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....宮城県
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山形県
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....to Yamagata Prefecture...
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What's this? A flat?
Domo Brian!
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...Team "coast to coast" always points west....

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...nothing like the smell of swans in rice fields...
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We had some awesome scenery....
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...the final swan park takes the cake...
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We arrived on the Sea of Japan at a small city called Sakata.酒田
...and stayed with a monk in this temple持地院..

And yes, we did imbibe in the local sake (nihonshu).
I don't recall it being that great, but the monk's version
of "yesterday" was one of the most memorable karaoke songs
I have ever heard...

This is the route we took (more or less)

Many thanks to Leo for leading and organizing the whole trek.
Hat's off.
Great to meet the half-fast riders again.
And the rhino?... well, he didn't make it this time...

utsukushii and atsui

2010-08-25T04:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the hurt locker.

Last weekend's triathlon tragic was set in Aizu, Fukushima ken.

The landscape lives up to its name of “Utsukushima Tri at
Aizu”, despite the heat. A really beautiful lake with mountains to
back it up. Would recommend it and a stay at the luxurious Washington
hotel.

Now for the pain and race report. Here is the short version for non-ironman types...

Swim: 27:23 ok, but a lot of kicking, tossing and turning going on…1
minute slower than last year…
Bike: 1:10:40 (inc T1 & T2) good… averaged 35.5 kph despite scorching
weather and chain problem…
Run: 57:54 wow…shocked at the time, shocked that I actually ran…
total: 2:35:57 not bad, considering the heat and my knee injury…a PW
needless to say…

And here are the gory details....

Swim:

I found it harder to get in a rhythm this year. There was a
whollotta kicking, squirming, tapping going on…
guess the numbers were at almost 500 athletes (this is a major ranked
race in Japan now!), which makes a combined start a little hectic…
26:00 out of the water, about a minute slower than last year…I also
think they changed the course to stop serial porpoisers like motozo
from abusing the actual swimmers…

Bike:

I pulled up to T1 just as Keren was pulling out, so geared up in
the blazing sun, and set my sights on his pointy head and blue namban
rengo shirt. WIth some help from the drafting marshal, we caught Keren
at about 20k. The course was a little tougher this year also with the
heat and stiff headwind, but enjoyed the downhill from 10-30k, pushing
Hillary’s gas pedal down to 60kph at one moment. There were long
stretches where I averaged over 50kph, and I thought, this is what it
feels like on a time trial at the tour de France….until my chain fell
off at an 180 degree turn, and Keren and 10 other bikers passed me
without hesistation……

no, it was not the tour de France! 1:10 bike was 1-2 minutes slower
than last year, about right given the heat,wind, and mechanical
problem…

Run: I dismounted Hillary and boy was it hot. But I thought,” fu_k it,
I’ll give it a try”, threw on my knee brace, and ran out of T2. The
first 1k was pure pain. I had 3 big challenges:

1. Torn minuscus (knee)
2. Fatigue from lack of running training (no runs since June)
3. Heat (it was the hottest part of the day) and no shade.

But I incorporated the Jay Johannesen “running while in pain”
technique, hydrated liberally every 1K, walked every few minutes,
spurted every 2 minutes, and somehow made it to the finish in under 1
hour. Those water and sponge breaks were heaven. I actually overdid it
with the happy mizu showers, got my shoes waterlogged, and developed
some nasty blisters on the bottom of my feet. During the last 2k, I
could feel the blister bursting hot fluids on the arch of my left
foot. I hope the Chinese real estate bubble does not look like the
bottom of my foot, coz it is pretty damn ugly! (it actually looks like
the flag of Japan, if you can imagine…. -_- )

Good to share it with Alex, Keren, and Stanley.

Ohhh Oshima triathlon: surfing USA

2010-06-13T03:51:00.000-07:00

Another month, another triathlon...we had a nice weekend in the neighboring Oshima (big island), a mere 2 hour jet boat ride from downtown Tokyo. 5 nanbanners (Phil, Andrew, Stefan, Laura, and your humble narrator) made the trip for the adventurous rough water swim, superfast bike, and hot and windy run. My lovely wife, accompanied me as usual, and thanks to her, the action shots of the race and party are below.

This was me looking genki in a "guts pose" before the swim start....easier to do before the race starts...

Tiptoeing gingerly thru the rocky beach...

Driving it home with the waves behind me...

Back to the beach...where is that zipper again?

Running surprisingly hard to transition 1..trying to beat my 4 minute T1 from last time...

Just mounted Hillary Swank, and ready to crank with the nice tailwind...

I'm riding so fast that Megu's shot is blurry...

Is that a happy-to-be-off-the-bike grin, or a sadistic grin when the pain starts to kick in?

Bringing it home against a nasty headwind...

Team Oshima with post-race euphoria...

Megumi is in the haus! She had a tough workout too!

The Ryano with 2 little rhinos...

This spot is reserved for Meggu...the only veggie plate!

The waiting is the hardest part...kampai already!

My results were decent this year.

Swim: 28:13 (57th place)
Bike: 1:08:40 (31st place)
Run: 46:08 (51st place)
Total: 2:23:01 (29th place overall, 27th out of 244 male finishers)

It compares well to 2 years ago. My times from 2008 were:

Swim: 31:59 (78th place)
Bike: 1:09:28 (38th place)
Run: 46:21 (55th place)
Total: 2:27:48 (43th place overall, 42nd out of 190 male finishers)

This year I finished much higher, 29th, versus 42nd 2 years ago, despite the more crowded field. The wind and heat were tougher this year, so I guess I was better prepared.

Swim:
The swim was faster, but a slightly shortened due to the immense waves. They say it was 1200 meters instead of 1500 meters, so I figure an extra 4-5 minutes, but the swim was much more challenging this year as the huge seas rocked us up and down like seals in the surf. It was actually a fun adventure to get thru, and I felt moments of surrealism as I glimsed at the tiny minnows swimming below me.

Bike:
I was particularly happy with the bike, which I improved by about 45 seconds despite getting lost in T2, which must have cost me 40 seconds. It was also hotter than last time. Without the 4 minute T1 transition and 1 1/2 minute T2 transtion, my bike was about 1:02:15, very close to that 1 hour barrier, averaging 38.5 kph. 2 years ago, I averaged 37 kph, so that was a nice improvement.

Run:
The run was a hard grind as we had a nasty headwind for the final 5k. 2 years ago I saved too much for the 2H of the 10k, so this year I made sure I was near max throughput for the first 5k. I did 22:42 for the first 5k, but as the head wind hit me at the turnaround, I couldn't hold the pace. The heat was started to make me dizzy. Luckily a guy passed me with 4k to go, and I sped up, got right on his tail, and drafted for the next 3k. Still, the last 5k was 23:27, so the allusive 46 minute barrier once again escaped me.

No worries, though, a fair show, given the big waves, wind, and heat factors. With a little more speed training in the pool and on the bike and track this summer, I should be ready to test PBs in both olympic and half ironman distances in August and September.

Nijima triathlon: paradise in Tokyo

2010-05-22T00:21:00.000-07:00

This was my 2nd year in a row to Nijima, and the beautiful island did not disappoint. Last year we had a cozier group of 6-7 peeps, but this year the gaijin horde dominated the course, with 18 of us in the race, and 3 supporters.

As for the race, I had hoped to beat my time of last year, 2:25, but my lack of training over the winter was going to make that a tall order. On race day, some small waves on the swim and a breeze on the bike course shattered any hopes of getting close to my time of last year.

Compared to last year I lost 30 seconds on the swim, 2 minutes on the bike, and 30 seconds on the run. It was a fun race though.

Swim: We (Keren, Jay, Mika, Mary, Ma, Phil, Pia, Vanessa, Motozo) lined up 4 minutes after the young bucks, and sprinted into the shallow water. It is quite an easy start, with about 100 "free" meters of running and porpoising allowable, I felt

pretty relaxed and settled into my usual drafting position behind a big splashing guy about my speed. At the halfway I came in at 12:10, so hoped to get in under 25 minutes, but I must have slowed slightly. I came out at about 25:00, but took almost a full minute to get out of the wetsuit despite not wearing socks.

Bike: The bike was tougher this year. We had a stiff headwind at the first 1-2k until you ride thru the little town. And the course is very curby and hilly, so it is hard to get into a good groove on the bike. 3 loops X 13.3k. At the end of the first loop, I had done about 25 minutes and knew that it was going to be a slow one on the bike as I had hoped for 23 minutes X 3 = 1:09 bike...

but alas one cannot control the elements...it was great to see many nanbanners on the course...I targeted Reza who was about 4-5 minutes in front of me, and had wild dreams of catching up to Keren, who was behind Reza, but had started with me, so about 1 minute ahead. It looked like Kimm was having a great debut, as he and Adam dueled it out several minutes ahead of the "pack". And of course Jay and I had our friendly rivalry on the whole course. I knew I needed a big cushion on the bike, as Jay has run well under 40 minutes at the olympic distance. So my 2nd and 3rd loops were about the same, and I dismounted Hillary Swank at 1:15 or so...as I bent down to put on my running shoes, I got severe stomach cramps where the actual ab muscles popped out...very painful...so I had to do some extra stretching before I could start running...some Japanese girls were saying, "yabai" as they saw me stretched out at T2, and I hoped they would call the marshal's on me...

Run: The first part is a severe climb, but I was ready for it, and was thrilled to see my wife Megumi at the top of the hill. I thought she would start running with me as she has done before in races....we got near the turnaround and I saw all the same guys running well: Adam, Kimm, Stefan, Keren, Reza, Andrew, which was nice motivation to keep pumping hard...

At the turn, I caught a glimpse of Vanessa behind me (she is a fast runner)..more incentive to run hard! Near the 5k, Bevan lapped me with a "gambatte"...eeyyyy! 2nd 5k was almost exactly the same split 23:22, although I accelerated at the end, I was fully spent and did not have much to finish strong.

Times:

Swim: 25:59 (52)
Bike: 1:16:10 (37)(T1 and T2 included)
Run: 46:47 (34)

Total: 2:28:59 (34th place out of 242)

To put it in perspective, last year's times were:

Swim: 25:22 (75th place)
Bike: 1:14:08 including T1 and T2 (35th place)
Run: 45:49 (32nd place)

Total: 2:25:21 32nd place out of 170 finishers

So my swim actually improved from last year despite the slower time. That is encouraging since I have only done 4-5 swims this year.
The bike needs a little work, although I was more competitive this year as well.
The run was a smidgen slower in gross time and competitiveness, but not too shabby.

Many thanks to Phil and Mika for setting up the trip again. Congrats to Kimm, Ma, Phil, Andrew, for popping their proverbial cherries. Thank you Meggu, for your lovely support and photos. Thanks to Gerard for coming all the way from Aussie! Che che to Leng Leng and Arnaud for coming and supporting also. We will miss you!

For those that care, here is my write-up of last year's event.

http://davidmotozo.blogspot.com/2009/05/nijima-triathlon-long-and-windy-road.html

Next up is Oshima, June 12, with vague hopes of cracking the 2:22 PB area...would need a fantastic swim on that rocky coast to give myself a chance...final note: if you ever go to Nijima, take the plane from Chofu. It is a fast, scenic ride for only a few pennies more than the ferry or jet foil. Nothing like flying back to Tokyo from a distant island in 30 minutes!

I'll be your superman: Tokyo Marathon 2010

2010-03-12T05:58:00.000-08:00

Hello earthlings! This was my 4th consecutive Tokyo marathon, but 1st as SUPERMAN. I think I will try to break the record for consecutive TOkyo Marathon’s by a gaijin/uchuchin, if I haven’t already. As Steve and many other’s already echoed, it was a miserable race with hard rain just above the freezing point, even for someone with super powers. I definetely was feeling like I had been zapped by kryptonite at 16k when we made the turn at Shinagawa and headed into that vicious freezing wind.

Thanks to Super Steve, we were able to keep our spirits and bodies warm before the freezing rainy start, but that is when the happy part of Superman’s story ended (until the superfantastic La Boheme party and nijikai). I managed to sneak in okusan wonderwoman to the A gate, and we quickly warmed up from 0 to 5k, running at 5 minute pace with plenty of fuel in the tank and encouragement, “Superman, gambare”...i wondered how many times I would here that in one day. Than I pulled over for a H2O break and lost wonderwoman. Mary pulled up and gave chase to super okusan, which left superman all alone...

I was happy to run with Mika for a considerable distance, thanks to Mika’s stretching regime. Than it was a very very lonely 20k to 30k….I had super blisters on the bottom of my feet from the moisture…lots of skin ailments/chafing from the not-so-super costume, and the old hamstring injury felt ready to start screaming again. The only consolation was that wonderwoman was ahead of me by 10 minutes on pace for a big old PB!(and Leng Leng screaming "you are superman!" at Hibiya).

At about 33k the blister pain subsided to a dull ache and I latched on to Arne for some comradery, with plenty male bonding with Fabian and Arne for the last 8k. At 35k, i felt like I could finish well under my PW time, which was my worst-case-scenario goal (yes, this race was worse case scenario).

I felt that superman would never-ever live down the shame of running slower than his IRONMAN sub-4 hour time, even with that heavy soaked cape! At 42.189k, I felt genki enough to do a little superman dance and victory lap around the finish line, so I guess my time would have been a minute faster or so, but no cares on planet earth...my PW was not violated! And my lovely wonderwoman Megumi came through with a massive PB by 11 minutes. She clearly likes freezing rain more than superman.

super splits were:
25:19 (up up and away)
25:12 (superistic)
26:16 (hmmm)
26:27 (uh oh)

27:22 (chotto)
28:10 (ara…)
28:45 (down to planet earth)
30:28 (Houston we have a problem)
14:21 (FUBAR)

3:52:22 Superman

3:39:21 Wonderwoman

Many thanks to nanbanjintachi Steve, Leng Leng, and Chiba san for a super dinner…great to see Joachim/Christiana from China too…

ps. FUBAR=F’ked Up Beyond All Recognition

2010 update

2010-01-15T21:40:00.000-08:00

I took a massive holiday from running since the wedding in October, but starting up again during our honeymoon in Maldives this past few weeks. Tokyo marathon is on the near horizon with 6 weeks to go, but I am feeling better. I ran 25k today and 28k last Sunday, which were my 2 longest runs in several months.

Here are a few shots of the honeymoon.

I will put more on my travel blog...

http://motozo.blogspot.com/

Dou suru? Aizu!

2009-08-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Aizu was the venue for my latest triathlon exploit, appropriately named "Utsukushi Triathlon in Aizu" on Lake Inawashiroko. Despite the hot and humid conditions of mid-August Tokyo, we had near perfect conditions with overcast skies at the start of the freshwater swim.

Swim: Dave Sims, Tony, and me lined up at the "floating start", wondering how far we would actually swim. The shallowness of the lake was quite apparent, although the swim course had been altered this year to reduce porpoising and increase actual swimming. I had a decent swim time, but was unprepared for the wading and porpoising. Although porpoising increases your speed, it is harder to do than swim, and my legs felt like bricks. I guessed Dave was having a tough time also, as I was only a minute or so behind his powerful strokes after the first loop. 2 loops of 750 meters and I was on the beach in 26 minutes, close to my best swim effort.

Bike: It was a long run to the bike area and rather slow transition. My bike training had gone fairly well and I looked forward to a ripper on the gentle downhill course. I averaged 35.9 kph. I rode with Tony for a while, but at about 20k, the downhill steepened, and Hillary de Cervelo topped 55 kph. I should have kept on pedaling hard, but the high speed spooked me, so I held off and lost Tony and his 6 friends. The rest of the ride was rather uneventful. My bike time including both transitions was 1:10:24, so about 1:07 or 1:08 net time.

Run: Run time was disappointing. I felt moments of strength and would surge as much as I could, only to feel the stomach cramps, hamstring aches, and general fatigue force me to slow down. It didn't help that there were no distance markers throughout the course, so I had no idea of pacing. Perhaps I would have picked it up had I seen a 23 minute 5k split. Who can say? Total 10k split was 46:22 for 103rd place in the run. For an experienced runner with a recent 1:36 half marathon time in July, unforgivable.

Swim: 26:11 (70th place)
Bike: 1:10:24 (53rd place)
Run: 46:22 (103rd place)

Total time was 2:22:59, 60th place out of 400 participants, a PB by almost 3 minutes, despite the slow run.

Congrats to Dave and Tony, who both had PBs also. Next month is my last tri race of this year most likely, in Hasaki, Chiba. It should be a fast course with cooler weather. Time to hit the track and get those run times down!

Obuse half marathon: The namaste zone

2009-07-20T02:14:00.000-07:00

My right hammy was my achilles heel this year at Obuse. It had been acting up in the past 2 weeks before the race, sidelining me last week during a track workout, so I was apprehensive going into the race on Sunday morning. We also had a huge meal the night before at our favorite Nagano Italian place and woke at 4 am to make it to the early 7 am start. I again had eaten too much and slept too little. On top of that the clouds pulled away our sun cover just at the start time, so we had the extra heat to deal with.

At the start I lined up near the elite runners hoping to latch on to Paddy and others for the initial 5k. I could see Paddy running just in front of me as the gun went off, and accelerated up to him. I joked, "Isn't this a 5k race?" to Paddy as I went by him very temporarily. He soon was off and away into the sunny morning hills. At 1k my watch said 4:05 so I took my foot off the gas pedal as I was looking to do 4:30 pace. Next came Terry at about 3k. It was very hot as the sun was fully sizzling, so I didn't stay with Terry long. At 5k, I went thru at a reasonable 22:20 just as Simon came up to join me. We stayed together for most of the next 10k, which was a nice push for me.

My hamstring started to scream at 7k, so I needed that extra push to get me thru and take my mind off that aching feeling. I had pulled slightly ahead of Simon, but he reeled me in again just at the 15k mark. I saw 22:56 for the 10-15k split and noted, "going too slow", and gently pushed down on the gas pedal. It became harder to breath, but I used my limited yoga experience to adjust my breathing pattern, and somehow fell into a nice groove. I began to feel outside my body and had reached the "namaste zone". With only a few k to go, I started chatting with the other runners, again trying to take my mind off the physical aches. I finished without major incident and ohh that water fountain at the finish line was heaven on earth. I was starting to feel human again...

Splits:

22:20 5k

22:37 5k
22:56 5k

23:02 5k

5:04 1.1k

1:36:03 total gun time

I was happy with that time, although far from my sub-1:30 PB. My last time in Obuse was 2005. Upon reflection into the deep archives of my running records (a big cardboard box in my closet), I note a 1:38:40 in 2005. I remember it being pretty hot 4 years ago, maybe a little hotter than this past weekend. But I give myself credit given my lack of high mileage over the past 2 months. Megumi had a nice race too with a 1:46, which was much better than her expectation of 1:50 plus alpha. This race could be a nice warmup for the festivities in October! More to come on that soon....

Many thanks to the Chandlers for splendid organization. If Sara Cummings is the queen of Obuse, than Mami and Gary are the princess and prince. This is a wonderful race and fun weekend. Highly recommended.

Kamakura Roughwaters 5k swim

2009-07-20T01:19:00.000-07:00

I did my first open water non-triathlon swim race 2 weeks ago in Kamakura. It is called "Roughwaters Swim" due to the usual large wake coming in from the south. I think the long 5 kilometer distance of the event also implies that it is rough for some people. For most of us ironmen doing the event (Jay, Mika, etc.), there was little doubt that we could complete the course without incident. (An ironman swim course is 3.8k followed by some 10 hours of grueling bike and run.)

It turned out to be a mild day with little wake, although it was very hot espescially inside my full body wetsuit. As it was my first outdoor swim race, I had little expectation for the top tier as I had reckoned the competition would be stronger than a typical triathlon. (I finished 60th out of 195 triathletes in the Murakami swim last month). So I was quite surprised to see my name of the top of the list, #7 overall and #1 in my age group. My time was 1:28:30, which was a faster pace than my 1:17 swim in ironman last year for the 3.8k distance.

The course started from the beach and I raced ahead of the group, confident in my porpoising ability. I stayed in the lead for a good 150 meters as noone could match my dolphin tactics. After 150 meters, finally some decent swimmers caught me and whizzed by. I tried to draft off the fast guys for a few strokes. At the last buoy, I felt pretty good, made the 180 degree turn, and headed back to Kamakura beach. I noticed that I was swimming comfortably without much breast stroke, a change from my previous races. At the beach I saw Jaynie cheering. In between gambares she indicated that her boyfriend Jerome was in front of me and Jay was behind, while Mika was still missing in action. I ran thru the start gate and entered the water again. I focused on a couple of swimmers that I recognized, and drafted off of them most of the 2nd loop. After that the race was pretty much a blur. I actually took one water break at the raft parked in the middle of the course. I did not go 100% until the last loop given my inexperience in open water swims. I also felt a little worried about the heat as it was about 25 degrees, the temperature borderline for wetsuit usage. I need to get a sleeveless wetsuit one of these days.

After Jay and Mika came in, we relaxed on the beach and watched Omar do his 3k swim, which was his first time also. He is fast but had a problem with his wetsuit top, and fell off the leaders after the first lap. We than ran 10k thru the hills of Kamakura and had a couple of beers on the beach to round up a perfect day. Thanks to Jaynie for her support and pics. Mika maido domo for signing me up at the last minute.

Haruki Murakami is in the building

2009-06-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

3 words: Hot hot hot. This year the Murakami triathlon was held on June 28 instead of its normal late September date,

which eased the normally rough sea of Japan conditions. However, it was extremely hot, over 30 degrees at 9 am and 35 C at 11 am. This would be my hottest olympic distance tri, and memories of

China's "dual in the sun" half IM with Mika and Jay haunted me. None of the clouds appeared that had been forecasted, and I escaped to the one oasis of shade near the beach after setting up my bike in the transition area.

Swim:

Still, I thought I might have a chance to crack my PB of 2:25 given the fast bike course, but blew the swim with a 31 minute leg. This was shockingly disappointing, as I had swam a 25 minute in Nijima last month and had trained consistently in the pool and Kamakura this past month. I tried to keep my head up to locate the target buoys, but I suppose I didn't do this enough (every 3-4 strokes), and I got caught out of line a few times, causing a zigzag formation.

Bike:

The bike split was ok at 1:11:48, a little slower than last year's 1:08 (without a swim). There was a stiff wind going out for the first 20k, and I couldn't get Hillary above 32 kph. I battled the bike out with my friend Tony, who also was sporting a Cervelo tri bike (name unknown). He is about the same speed as me on the bike, so I wasn't too worried about the slow speed in the headwind. The tailwind at the turnaround was great. Weeeeeeeee at over 40 kph for most of the 2H of the bike. Average time was almost exactly 35 kph. I pushed it reasonably hard on the bike as I knew the run was pretty flat.

Run:

T2 went well and I was in and out of T2 area in about 15 seconds, but I felt awful for the first 5k. My legs wouldn't move. I said, "run faster" to my legs, but they would not respond. I guess it was the heat and my lack of running since the Oxfam 100k hike injury. I jogged it for 25:00 5k split as

Tony tried to reel my in, about 20 meters behind me. At the 5k point, Megumi yelled, "Tony's right behind you, Babe!" I suddenly felt a little more genki as if Meg's encouragement were a wake-up call, and picked up the pace. At the next corner, I noticed that I had dropped poor Tony, who is not as experienced a runner as your humble narrator. (incidentlly Tony wants to start running with Nanban Rengo). The 2nd 5k was just under 23 minutes for a 47:57 total 10k run.

Total time was 2:30:54, my slowest time in a couple of years, after a 2:25 PB in Nijima. I finished 1 minute ahead Tony, who also finished 1 minute behind me in Nijima. Congrats to Mika, who had a 2:43, good enough to win her age group. And a big ootsukaresama to Ma, who did her first tri in about 3 hours but a DNQ. Many thanks to Dave Sims for driving us up and back to the race. Nice to go without having to pack and assemble the bike! Thanks as always Megumi for the pictures and support.

A final note: The famous author, Haruki Murakami, was in the race and did over 3 hours. I hoped to get an autograph as I just finished reading "What I talk about when I talk about Running", but I never did see him....

2:30:54 36th overall (out of 195 finishers)

6th Age group (out of 33)

Swim 31:09 60th

Bike 1:11:48 19th

Run 47:57 61st

Beer mile part deux: revenge chug

2009-06-14T06:37:00.001-07:00

My second beer mile was a huge PB of over 2 1/2 minutes. I downed 4 beers in between 400 meter splits with amazing improved efficiency, cracking the 10 minute barrier. Normally I would run about a 6-7 minute mile, so the drinking bit took about 40 seconds per beer. My official time was 9:53 versus my virgin beer mile time of 12:33.

To recap for those ignorant to the ways of the beer mile, 1 12 ounce (333 ml) beer is chugged before each 1/4 mile (400 meters) run, 4 times, for a total of 4 beers and 1 mile. Out of the 7 men/women in my group, I finished 3rd, well behind Joachim and Satohi, but a lot closer than last time! I am getting dangerously good at this...

The party continued our drunken runner behavior as it was a special sayonara for our dear friends Joachim and Christiana, who are moving to China this month. Keren also made his return to Yoyogi Park, and can be seen below in photo surrounded by luscious Nanban female members. And Dayan was back from Israel on a surprise 40,000 yen trip.

Most importantly, Megumi, my fiancée, was there cheering for me. Perhaps that was the magic I needed.

After chatting with Jay and Taro later, we discovered that we had all had about 3 minute improvements. We also had an easier time chugging but more challenge in running at full speed after the chugs. Beer chugging and belching are surely acquired talents.

The weather was definetely more favorable. I actually felt like having a beer at the start line in the hot muggy afternoon sunshine. Last race was on a cool January morning....

Will the wounded knee hold up in Murakami in 2 weeks time?

Stayed tuned for more triathlon tragics...

Oxfam trailwalker 100k hike: Legs like dogmeat

2009-05-25T05:05:00.000-07:00

2 days after completing my first 100k trailwalker thru an extremely difficult course in Hakone, my legs are still feeling like dogmeat. Perhaps it was the 4 weeks in a row of racing triathlons, half-marathons, and 10ks. Or that 5 hour 40 minute, 18k climb in the dark rain on Friday night. Whatever the case, I think the numbers better explain the journey.

Here they are:

9k: 1:56:10
CP1 break: 11:00
9k: 2:15:30
CP2 break: 31:34
5.5k: 1:03:13
CP3 break 33:48
12.5k: 1:59:51
CP4 break: 54:17
18k: 5:41:03
CP5 sleep: 3:53:41
9.5k: 2:03:14
CP6 break: 1:26:18
16k: 3:57:56
CP7 break: 1:39:13
13.5k: 3:48:01
CP8 break: 19:14
7k: 1:53:59

Total time: 34:14:02

Total break time: 9:31:43

Total hiking time: 24:44:47

Average hiking speed: 4.1 kph

Average speed including breaks: 2.9 kph

41st out of 119 teams**

**only 3 members

The course was fairly tough. And frustrating. I felt I had plenty of stamina in my lungs and was comfortable climbing past non-runners on the difficult ascents. The problem for me was my calves. I had severe tightness in my left calf just behind my knee from CP4 on to the finish. (the course consists of 8 checkpoints (CP), so about every 12k there is a check point where you can load up on calories, pop a squat, stretch the legs, etc.).

I was roped into the Mitsui Fudosan team at the last minute. My comrades were Kaga san, Iwamoto san, and Su san.

CP1-CP3 we buzzed along at a rapid pace...too fast actually. Mr. Su from China got cramps almost immediately after CP1. I thought we should slowdown the pace but we pressed on at a 5 kph clip, which is quite fast carrying heavy 6-7 kilo packs. We had no car support so we had to carry most of our supplies including jackets, flashlights, extra clothing, etc. Sure enough Su san pulled the plug at the 36k point at CP4 after a blistering 6.1 kph pace from CP3 to CP4. So now we were three.....

We tackled what proved to be the hardest part of the course next. CP4 to CP5. 18k, most of which was in the dark after a brief ramen pit stop. It started raining harder on top of things, and was up and down the entire way to CP5. Iwamoto san lead the whole way. He is a good hiker and we were glad to have him in front. I felt like I was cheating, drafting off him and borrowing his light. He was quite alert, calling out various dangers: branches, roots, sharp ascents and descents, etc...

All we could think about were CP5's sleep quarters. And infrequent human companions along the way were great. What a joy it was to bump into another group in the middle of the night rain! A lone ranger came up from behind us to our amazement with a couple of kilometers to go to CP5. Where's your group?, we asked. Oh, I left them behind for some reason...mind if I hang with you guys?...Sure!

We rolled into CP5 after 5 hours and 41 minutes of toil through the dark, wet mountain at about midnight. The check point at Daiyuzan Saijo-ji looked like a war zone. Bodies layed out left and right on the floor on yoga mats or without, clothing caked with mud, wet clothes hanging on the heaters, and first aid women taping up hiker after hiker. We quickly stripped out of our wet clothing and bedded down for a hearty 3 hour nap. The plan was to sleep until 3:30 am and be in full gear by the time the sun rose.

I only slept 1-2 hours as the room got noisy when other hikers piled in during the wee hours. A quick coffee at 3:45 am and we were ready to roll and meet the rising sun. My left calf had been bothering me since CP4, and I had hoped the sleep would magically cure the soreness, but alas, the pain was still there. It got worse and worse throughout the day. Thank god for advil...

But the hike to CP6 was a cakewalk, and I now looked forward to meeting Megumi between CP6 and CP7. Meg kept me alive on the tough climb. I knew we had more big climbs coming up after CP7, but the thought of Meg with us made it seem easier. I got my second wind.

We met Meg at exactly the halfway point and I immediately scoffed down the lasagna, tofu, and nuts that she had kindly brought from Tokyo. We had been living on onigiri, bananas and instant soup for 25 hours, so it felt great to eat real food, albeit cold.

Meg was the spark plug for us. She bounced up the trail with us, took some weight off my bag, spurred the conversation, and pretty soon we were at CP7.

After a shower and onsen break, we were joined by Kaga san and Iwamoto san's colleague from Mitsui Fudosan, and tackled another hard climb of 13.5k. Everyone was getting tired and tightening up, but we were brightened by our new supporters and the fact that were were 80% done. I took personal pleasure in counting every 500 meters, 200 signs in all. The counting process kept me going.

At the last checkpoint 8, we rushed through and hit the trail, knowing we only had 1 1/2 hours to cover 7k of tough terrain before nightfall. The initial climb was very steep, but I took solace in the fact that it would be over very soon.

My leg was now in dogmeat territory, and I had to lean half my weight on my walking stick to relieve the pressure. It felt like we were flying, high on advil, sport drinks, fruits, and nuts. We were passing almost all groups now. Nobody passed our posse of 5 since Meg had joined.

After that very steep initial climb it was all gravy. We were about 4k out and descending now before the last climb. Another 10 minute climb to the last peak and we were greeted with a georgeous view of the lake Yamanakako (the 3 of us are pictured above, near that peak). Down the hill and we were so close we could smell the finish. We passed 1 more group on the final 1k and barely needed the flashlights for the final bit. A big round of applause (atatatatakai hakushuuu) for Team Oakwood!

Later I heard that fellow nanbanners James, Phil, Ed, and others (I saw 2-3 other nanbanners on the course) finished in blistering times. Maybe something to shoot for next time...

Many thanks to Megumi for coming out on the second day at the crack of dawn. And also a big domo to Kaga san and Iwamoto san's colleague. And don't forget our sponsor Oakwood. Thanks Keren. See you in Tokyo soon!

Nijima Triathlon: The long and windy road

2009-05-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

An excellent weekend was had by all at Tokyo's paradise island Nijima. I had a reasonably good result given the conditions in the olympic distance triathlon. I broke my PB by 30 seconds with a 2:25:21, which was as good as I could expect given the warnings of windy bike roads and hilly run course.

It was near perfect weather of 20 degrees C at the race start and the rain avoided our island for the entire weekend while it rained on the mainland.

My splits were as follows:

Swim: 25:22 (75th place)
Bike: 1:14:08 including T1 and T2 (35th place)
Run: 45:49 (32nd place)

Total: 2:25:21

32nd place out of 170 finishers, 141 male finishers

Many thanks to Phil the Ryano for his suberb organizational skills and impetus to get us out of Tokyo to the island in the first place. We all pledged to go back again soon (next year). That's it for the short version. For my normal ironmanish long version of the race and weekend keep on reading. Details of the weekend and race go something like this....

Prerace: On Phil's advice, we assembled the night before at the Takeshita marina for the slow 11 hour boat ride to Nijima, which turned out to be quite pleasant. The ship was huge, maybe 300 feet or so, and moved gently over the calm seas. I slept soundly for 5 hours until the loudspeaker reminded us of stops from Oshima at 5 am down to Nijima at 9:30 am.

Swim: Conditions were a little cool for a swim at 18 degrees C water temperature, probably my coldest tri swim ever, but I wasn't too worried. Sure enough, once I started stroking, I was warm and toasty after a minute or 2. I was able to porpoise in the shallow water for 100 meters and found myself amazingly ahead of my entire wave for a good 200 meters until the fast guys swamped me. I got around the second buoy and headed back to the beach and was happy to see 12 minutes on my watch at the halfway point. I am on PB pace if I can only maintain this speed I thought to myself as I porpoised by a few tired swimmers. Rounding the final buoy I was in a good groove as I had been drafting off the poor guy in front of me for the entire lap. I checked my watch and saw 19 minutes with about 300 meters to go. Cool! I stepped on the gas pedal and hit the beach in 25 minutes, a new personal best! (I was happy with that, but unfortunetely later I discovered that everyone had a good swim, so it wasn't just me!).

Bike: The T1 transition was less than perfect. I decided to skip the socks (a mistake), couldn't get off my wetsuit fast enough (need more vaseline next time), and forgot to put enough power drink in my gel mix. I ended up dehydrating myself on the bike, but I guess it didn't slow me down too much. I forgot to zip up my shirt, so had to slow down on the bike course to do that without crashing. The bike course started out quick down the first 3k stretch, but than we hit the hills and I groaned. It was very technical and bumpy most of the way. I was praying that my bike Hillary didn't crack under the pounding. The first 13k lap was tough enough. The next 2 laps were somewhat easier as I got used to the bumpy and windy terrain. But I felt like I was playing catchup, trying to get my time close to 1:10. I finished the bike with a fairly miserable 1:14 including the 2 transitions, about 1:11 without transitions. Again, T2 was too slow as I had a bad stomach cramp, which immobilized me for several seconds as I stretched out the swollen muscle. I did enjoy the competitive feeling of the bike. It was fun to try to catch up to Phil. He was surprisingly fast on the swim and bike, and I couldn't close the gap much on the bike. I could see my friends Jay, Mary, Sumie, but didn't spot Mika or Dave.

Run: After a feeble T2, I headed up a giant hill still feeling woozy from the stomach cramp. I had to pull over for a pee, as I hadn't been able to sweat much on the bike. Than I discovered my shoelaces were untied and pulled over again. Dammit my run time is going to suck also I thought. There was no way to figure out what speed I was going as is typical of the Izu island series races, so I had to wait to the 5k point. Actually at 3k turnaround point I sighted Phil shuffling along just a few hundred meters in front so I had somewhat of a gauge on how I was doing. On my way down the hill to the 5k point I saw Jay about 6-7 minutes behind so I knew my Jay cushion was somewhat safe, although as many know Jay does have a dangerous run. At the 5k point I saw Mika with camera on the side. I asked, "what happened??!!". She said she would tell me later.

I started to feel better after going thru the big hill at about 6k, waved to the elderly people in wheel chairs and accelerated for the last 4k. I got thru the first 5k in 23 minutes and did the second 5k in 22 minutes. I guess I lost about a minute on the first 5k with the pee and shoelace breaks, so splits were about even.

The best news was that I achieved a new PB, albeit a mere 30 seconds, in a pretty tough course. I hope to shave several minutes off the PB next month in Oshima and/or Murakami as I am running pretty well and swimming fairly well. I need to put more bike rides together in the next few weeks though. You can see by my bike ranking of 35 versus run rank of 32 despite a 1 minute break that I have some bike work to do. A few transition drills wouldn't hurt either. In retrospect, the Fuji Susono half marathon last week probably hurt me a little on the run and bike, as 6 days was not enough recovery time. Fuji was hotter and hillier than I had imagined, but that is a sho ga nai.

Thank you Mika for helping Phil with the organization and taking all the groovy photos. The big zannen for Mika was a breathing problem on the swim, which forced her to pull out. It is disappointing to not be able to test yourself on the course, but I hope that it will be a blessing in disguise for Mika. Hopefully she will be more motivated to train on the swim for her ironman debut in Canada this August. Gambatte Mika!

A final word on Keren, our tri guru. Keren, you were sorely missed in Nijima and we all wish you well in Australia. We hope for a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing you toe the line in one of September's triathlons.

Fuji Susosososonononono 1/2 marathon taikai

2009-05-10T23:44:00.001-07:00

A hot and hilly scenic detox pressure cooker. That is how I would describe Fuji Susono 1/2 marathon in 10 words or less. I know this has been well said, but those first 5k were tougher than nails.

My time was very slow, a personal worst (PW) since 2002 when I started running with nanban rengo. But it was a decent detox workout as I sweated profusively for 100 minutes at high altitude, and a nice warm-up for my first triathlon of the tri season next weekend in Nijima.

My time was 1:40:54, about 6 minutes off my goal.

69th place out of 350 in my age group.

It did feel satisfying to pass many runners on the last 5k as I was able to use my long strides to my advantage down the last stretch.

Splits were:

5k: 26:23

10K: 23:09

15K: 24:26

20K: 22:31

1.1K: 4:23

A huge ooohhtsukare to Jay for his efforts to organize and direct the barbarian horde to victory. Chiba san and Yuka chan also deserve thanks for their constant support.

A big danka to Joachim and Christiana for the swell fotos and pleasant ride down from their home in Kamakura on Saturday.

Megumi finished the race without problems (buji ni kansou shita), which was yokatta give her bad fever/flu over the past week. Meg came in at around 1:51, not bad at all give the heat, hills, and fever.

These photos are of various shots from the beer halls and blueberry lodge scenary. The beer was a delicious microbrew which we couldn't abstain from the night before the race. Nonetheless, it was so smooth that I suffered little hangover, and soon sweated all poisons out of my system during the first 5k climb.

Ooooiiii Ito! Izu training bike ride

2009-05-05T22:14:00.000-07:00

I followed Phil Ryan's advice and circled Izu peninsula in 3 days with my buddy and former colleague Nigel. We headed out Monday morning, took the 8:30 am Shinkansen to Mishima, and rode 100k heading south from Mishima station (near Atami), caught a nice river bike path until Izu shi, hung a right after Izu shi and headed over to the west coast. Just before we reached the coast, Nigel was ''nearly hit'' by a car at the entrance of a long 1,000 meter tunnel. The driver behind him saw him at the last second and hit the brakes, making a loud screeching noise. This caused the driver behind him and car coming from opposite direction to slam on their brakes, which made an aweful chorus of screeches. I was in front of Nigel and heard the screeches but continued thru the tunnel...when Nigel didn't come thru after 10 minutes, I about-faced, went back in the tunnel and searched for him, fearing the worst. About 1/4 of the way back in I saw him walking his bike on the narrow pedestrian path inside the tunnel. Whew!From than on we followed 136 gingerly all the way down the west coast to Matsuzaki. Beautiful views along the west coast in between tunnels and huge hills. Continued to the southern tip on 136 until nightfall, stayed at a little minshuku about 30k west of Shimoda. We were starving and fortunate to find a very kind obasan who took us in and fed us royally even though it was well past feeding hours.

We were passed out at 10 pm after copious amounts of locally caught fish, mountain veggies, miso, fresh wasabi, sake, and beer.

Tuesday morning was an easy 25k ride after 2 large mountain passes into the flats of Shimoda, in time for lunch at the Paradise Cafe in Ohama. Nigel pulled the plug at Shimoda and headed back for the station. I stayed at Bruno and Tamiko's new place in Shimoda and bumped into 2 shouken gyoukai friends in the same neighborhood.

Wednesday I woke up at 4:30 am for another monster ride thru heavy rain, wind and hills on the east coast from Shimoda to Ito. I think the harsh weather actually enhanced the highs of ride: georgeous seaside views of huge seas pounding on the rocks, and almost no cars from 5-7 am. I was cold and wet but feeling alive! Took me about 4 hours to do 60k. Thought about going another 25k to Atami but I was literally shivering on my bike at Ito, so pulled the pin and jumped on the next odoriko from Ito station. The Ito bike ride was the hardest ride of the 3 days and probably harder than those 6 hour 150k Saturday morning rides last summer on the Arakawa.

Overall, a nice way to get in to shape: 200k of hard mountain riding!

If you want hill training with scenic views and great beaches, go to Izu...

Tokyo Marathon...the pacemaker brings it home

2009-03-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

My 3rd consecutive Tokyo Marathon was a new experience in that I did not run for my own goal, but instead had the pleasure of pacing the lovely Megumi unit thru the race. Actually we ran together for the first 11k, than got separated at a crowded water area. Meg was slightly ahead of me, and I sped up slightly from 5:15 to 5:05 pace per kilometer, but Meg increased her pace also! It took me 20k to catch up to her. At 32k, she was slowing so we took it easy for the last 10k. You can tell from our splits how the race went....

Splits were:

28:06: 5K

26:59: 5K

26:37: ""

24:58: ""

26:06

26:14

26:50
31:17

13:50: 2.2K

3:50:58 total time average of 5:28 per kilo pace

It was pleasant to run at a slightly slower pace than my own, particularly the last 10k was not as excrutiating as it usually is.

Definetely the hangover from the copious amounts of tequila and beer was worse than the stiffness in my legs and back. Congrats and omedeto to all and thanks to the supporters out on the blistery course. Seeing Jay, Bob, Keren, and Leng Leng at the last 10k was really beneficial to Megumi and myself.

Here's Megumi's comments as well:

Many thanks to darling Motozo who made sure I got in my long training runs, endured my complaining through all of it and reminded me that the training is the toughest part with the marathon being the reward. And it sure was...I thoroughly enjoyed the first 10k with Motozo. I was gabbing away, pointing out the costumes I found entertaining and Motozo all the while thinking I should talk less to conserve my energy. At a water stand we got split up due to congestion. I should have slowed down, but I didn’t think I was going so fast and was concerned about the time, so I speed up at what felt quite comfortable until, of course, 35k. My left ankle started feeling sore and Motozo came up behind me just in time to hand me an advil. I wasn’t talkative after this point. I hit the wall and got reduced to a jog. It really was wonderful seeing Jay, Bob, Keren, and Leng Leng. I wanted to smile at them, but it took effort to just turn my head in their direction. I lost a lot of motivation when the clock clearly read I wouldn’t make my goal time. I was only running now to get the damn race over with. With the last 2k, Moto pointed out the ferris wheel in the distance and assured me we weren’t going that far. I felt energy at the last kilometer and sped up to what felt like a sprint. I finished quite sober, 6mins slower then what I was shooting for. Oh, well. Great experience! Will diffidently do it again and I’m happy that it was much easier then last year in Nagano. Many thanks to Mami-san at 33k! I was expecting to see a few of my siblings at 30k but disappointingly didn't, so seeing you cheered me up. Thank you Mary and Satohi for organizing the great after party. Its not every day that I can have vegetarian Mexican .

Finishing time 3:50.58.

Goal time was 3:45.

Beer mile: It's not about the running

2009-01-10T23:10:00.000-08:00

The nanban beer mile was held yesterday, which happened to be my first "running" event of the year. The weather was perfect. A georgeous sunny day of about 12 degrees. Not exactly beer drinking weather, but a pleasant contrast to the cold and rainy Friday night previous. Here I am thanking the beer gods with a namaste and praying that I don't damage my internal organs!

A beer mile consists of 4 beers and 400 or so meters of running after each beer consumed. Thus, you chug a beer, run 400 meters, chug another beer, run 400 meters, chug a third beer, run 400 meters, and chug the last beer, and sprint to the finish line. By the 2nd beer I was buzzed and missed one of the turns after the 2nd beer. After the 4th beer, I was hammered from the rapidity of drinking and running. Ironically, it got easier to drink after the 2nd beer.

The first beer was a shock to my system and it took me a full 50 seconds to get the beer down. But I told myself, "tiny little baby steps" and got the rest down with big belches in between gulps. The giant burps helped me. Other rivals complained that they were not able to belch like me. Something to be proud of!

My time was 12:33, which is not fast but not too slow considering it was my first race. Although I doubt there will be another one! My goal was to finish without hurling, which I accomplished. I might have even won my age group. The winning time was about 8 minutes.

Chad and Satohi were the superhero drinkers. Something to be proud of...The slowest time was about 16 minutes, so I was right in the middle. Not a great performance but a helluva experience. It is good to try new things. Perhaps this should be my new year's resolution...

Thanks to Joachim for the prizes and Gareth for organizing the event.

Ohh Ohtwara, 21.1k unofficial marathon

2008-11-24T03:47:00.000-08:00

We were worried about the cold windy weather, but ironically the sun blazed and the mercury rose to unseasonably warm Ohtawara weather. I was slightly overdressed in long sleeves and running tights, and began to sweat right away, but knew we would cool down later. The goal was to run a 1:35 or so, which I felt was conservative yet ambitious enough given my lack of training since September. I ran almost the same 5k with Colin and Phil as last year, feeling pangs of nostalgia and dejavu. It all felt pretty comfortable with an easy 22:34 first 5K, just over our goal pace of 22:30. Phil and I continued and picked up the pace to about 22 for the 2nd 5K. I was saving my energy for the 10-15k, which I figured would be the hardest psychologically to get through, given my hamstring and lower back injuries. There was a dull pain in my lower back and tightness in the hamstring, but it was just the normal noises and I pressed on. At the halfway point of the half (10.5k), I started to get into the “Motozo zone”, and felt more comfortable with a below target pace. We were now passing a lot of runners, many who had whizzed by us at the first 5K, which felt satisfying. It also got shadier and cooled down a bit, which was fine for me in my tights. At 15K or so, we made the turn back to the start point and I noticed that Phil was not on my tail anymore, but I still had some gas in the tank. At about 18k I started to tighten up as the lack of training was now taking its toll. Colin and Terry, running full marathons, caught up to me at 19k. Slightly ashamed, I sped up and finished the final 1K at just over 4 minute pace. At the halfway point, I pulled over to the amazement of many runners. One guy yelled “gambatte yo”, and seemed to think “what a baka gaijin” for pulling out halfway through. When Colin and Terry came by, I started running again with them and contemplated going around 1 more loop for about 10 seconds, but my legs were toast and I bowed out after 500 meters, wishing them luck, and not envying their task at hand at all.

5k Splits were:
22:34
22:07
22:13
22:57
4:35 (1.1K)
Total: 1:34:27 (21.1k),

exactly the pace of my 3:08:50 marathon PB.

Omedeto to all the nanbanners!

Some of the highlights below:

Joachim 2:52? after an ultra-marathon last month!
Paddy 2:55 PB, Runner Gaga!
Yuri 2nd place in 10K (37 minutes),
Colin, gutsy 3:11 run,
Jun, 3:16, nice job on limited training
Ed Clease, 36:44, and PB on the Karaoke stage!

Christian, 34:10 pb

Hitomi, 51 pb

Tomoko (智子) 49 pb

LengLeng. 44.29

Arnoud, 1.27.15
Megumi 1:44:22, warukunai for the lack of long runs...

Yuka, 1:47:00 half 由香 dekimashita!

And the best performances off the road of course go to Chiba san and Gareth for organizing the event. For me, the atmosphere and good cheer after the race were the best parts this time around, my 5st Ohtawara trip in the past 7 years. (2 marathons, 2 halves, and one 10k).

Go here for photos of some Nanbanners running in Ohtawara last year:
davidmotozo.blogspot.com/2007/11/ohtawara-2007-half-marathon-and-pure.html

And Morten, my nephew, celebrated his 0st birthday, tipping the scales at over 8 pounds (3.8 kilos). Happy happy birthday Morty!

Edogawa 10k

2008-10-27T05:41:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling gakkari, or disappointment, although a somewhat expected miss of my coveted 40 minute mark that I had broken 2 years ago on the same course. Despite a nagging lower back injury and wet weather, I thought I had a chance to crack 40 minutes as I had run a swift 41:50 at the Murakami “duathlon” last month.

So when I lined up at the start line in the under 40 minute group with Stuart and Chad, I decided to go out at just under 4 minute pace. The first 2k turned out to be too ambitious. I did a 3:50 first k, and a 3:58 2nd k, but knew I was in trouble as I was already feeling very winded and uneasy. I hoped the pain would end soon, but it was still 8k away! The next 3k was disastrous as I faded badly to 4:05, than 2k at 4:09 pace, and came through the 5k at 20:10.

There was still a glimmer of hope that I could somehow maintain a 4 minute pace, but that was soon shattered at 6-8k, when I did a 2 times 4:20 splits or so. Those hills took their toll on me and it felt like I was spinning my tires on the wet asphalt. After the 8k point I tried to pick it up as I could see those speed demons Paddy and Jay heading for the stadium. I pumped faster but just didn’t have the legs. I think I did a 4:05 9k and just under 4 minutes for the final k, which is usually much faster. Final time was 41:32, so my second split was a shocking 21:21 after a 20:11 first split. Almost a full 2 minutes slower than 2 years ago at Edogawa.

Omedeto to Brett, Jay, Fabrizio, and Rie for podium finishes, and thanks to Jay for organizing the wild and crazy party at El Torito (excellent service thanks to our gun ho ordering style). Still feeling woozy from that one...

Choshi yokatta

2008-10-06T05:57:00.000-07:00

Choshi is a windy, rocky marina town on the eastern tip of the Kanto plain. It boasts the the first sunrise to be seen every year on the main Honshu island, called hatsuhinode. Enough with the geography lesson...After a pleasant 2 hour train ride with Hiroyuki Suzuki, a rising star triathlete, we landed in the sleepy and pleasant Choshi village.

So windy and hilly is the terrain in Choshi, that giant windmills dominate the scenary. After a brief respite at our hotel, fabulous Fabien, our hero Hiro, and your humble narrator, mounted are much feared cycling machines, headed towards the sea and windmills for the race registration. It was a 4k ride to the course from our hotel (on the map). 25k later, we arrived tired, sweaty, and sunburned warriers, having gotten a slightly more scenic tour of the eastern Chiba seaboard. At Choshi Marina, we rendezvoused with the rest of the French contingency and watched the first sunset on Honshu. We had the usual pasta loading party at the hotel, and I was getting serious deja vu, having done the same routine 1 week prior in Murakami. Did I mention that most of the group was French? Or at least they claimed to be French. I was surprised at the level of competitive spirit of the guys in NFCC (Nippon-French Cycling Club). Everyone bragged about how fast they could go in the race, particulary Jacques and Hiro. Perhaps it was the excitement of the moment, or the success they had had in Ishigakijima last year, or perhaps it was the beers that gave them extra confidence. Needless to say, it was a quite different atmosphere to my cosy Nanban Rengo dinner crowd.

Race day turned out to be quite sunny, a pleasant surprise as we had expected clouds and possibly precipitation. We had great swimming conditions. I felt like everything jelled on the swim, a nice culmination to a year or so of serious swim training with coach Greg. I also got some good last minute advice from Olympian Dave Holderbach, and was able to latch on to a swimmer of similar calibar for most the race. I finished the first lap of 750 meters in under 13 minutes, and brought it home in around 26 minutes, a personal best of 27:26 after a 1 minute run to the bike transition area. Transition 1 was too slow as I foolishly forgot to take off the top part of wetsuit after landing on the beach, and also got my right leg caught on the time chip around my ankle. But at least I did not have to sit down to transition. T1 took about 3 minutes.

The bike ride was also painfully slow, with constant hills on the 10k loop. It felt like you were either climbing or coasting for 1 hour. The course design was basically an letter i-shape, meaning 2 hairpin turns every 10k, which meant you had to brake hard and come to a near standstill every 5K. It was nice to pass by everyone on the course and at least there weren't any cars to deal with as in Singapore IM. I noticed speedsters Eric and Dave well ahead and caught a glimse of Jacques just a minute in front of me, so set my sights on him as my next target. I had a fairly competitive bike and didn't let anyone pass, but still my bike time was a shocking 1:15:03 (including T1).

The T2 must have been less than 20 seconds, and I guess the heavy race load this year was finally paying off some modest dividends. The run felt good. I didn't feel any fatigue from last weekend's Murakami record 10k run. I was passing scores of runners again and nobody passed moi. The time was fairly much in line with my target at 43:26. So a total of 2:25:55 (3 minutes after 1st wave time shown of 2:28:54), 14th place in my age group, 59th overall. This was a PB by 2 minutes. I had the same run time as Dave Holderbach, an Olympic swimmer, but he expectedly crushed the swim in under 20 minutes, so he got first in our age group with a 2:16:10. The top time was 2:10:47 with a 1:12:23 bike, my consolation was that I was pretty close to the leader on the bike portion at least. Our local hero was Eric, who won his 30-34 age group with a sparkling 2:13:36 time. Hiro did a great job with a 2:16:27 as well, good enough to lead his 25-29 age group, although his bike was just slightly slower than his overzealous 55 minute goal. I think I could have broken 2:20 easily in a normal bike course and T1 transition, but that is the way the cookie crumbles, an old French buddy used to say to me. C'est la vie for this year as this Choshi race raps up a monster tri season of 6 races including 3 ironman events. It's been swell, but your humble narrator is looking forwarded to some R&R this winter with a little more running and a lot less biking and swimming. Many thanks to Hiro and Dave for organizing the hotel and race logistics, and thank you Megumi for the awesome support and action snaps. I recommend this race to riders who excel in hills, perhaps Keren? Anyway, a great time was had by all and I made some new bon amies, so I have to say Choshi yokatta!

Murakami "triathlon": the little fish that got away

2008-09-30T05:35:00.000-07:00

Prerace: We had a pleasant ride up to Murakami, splendid sushi lunch in Niigata, than a shock as we arrived into Murakami city. The waves in the Sea of Japan were monstrous, the biggest I have ever seen. It was cool, rainy, and windy, but other than that a perfect day! We ditched the idea of a practice swim and went for a short bike ride before escaping to the shelter of our ryokan, which was near the beach starting point.

Morning prep was chaotic as the bike “doctor” wrongly assessed my rear wheel as an untrue wheel instead of making a simple adjustment to the 2 little screws that could. I finally got the wheel straightened with 40 minutes to start time, missing the body marking window. How naked I felt!

Swim: There was none! It was exciting to watch the pros swim into the perfect storm. But us mortal men and women wanted no part of that surf. They resembled a bunch of seals rocking up and down in the swells. I have to say they were moving very well for all that white water. As the swim is usually my Achilles heal, I wasn’t too disappointed to skip to the bike and run.

Run 1K: Instead of a 1.5k swim, the race started with a 1k beach run, followed by the normal bike and run. We started running 5 minutes after the first group. I was surprised to see the first group come in at 4:30 to over 5 minutes, as I had expected them to be faster. But as soon as we started running I could see why they had come in slow, as the sand was deep and well, sandy. It must have been the equivalent of running up Akasaka gosho hill for 1k. I started the run with Keren, Jay, and Anthony. The 3 of us tried to stay with Jay, but he soon sped ahead, and we came in pretty much together at about 4:44, 10 seconds behind Jay. But our well-versed transition tactics allowed Keren and myself to drop Jay in T1….

Bike 40k: The bike was a bit hairy going up a steep hill immediately after mounting Hillary Swank, than a few sharp turns thru the curves of the outskirts of Murakami city. At the last left sharp turn a rider passed me, than slowed down directly in front of me. I had some choice words for him, than accelerated and dropped him to teach him a lesson. Once I was out of the town, there were little problems with space or navigation, and I looked forward to a fast and clean bike ride. At 10k, I was averaging 38k per hour and liking the idea of a 1:04 bike. Keren road up to me and said, “we’ll be flying on the way back with this tailwind”….hmmmm I wondered…..
I tried to drop him a few times, but couldn’t. Than Keren tried to drop me, but to no avail. This “drop the Cervelo P2C game” continued to about the 39k point...I liked the 20k turnaround as we could see all our friends, shout out encouragement, and estimate how everyone was doing. Most of the pros and fast guys in front of us were in big pelotons alla Tour de France. The headwind was fierce going back to base though, and we slowed to 37 kph, gradually passing the last of our age group leaders. I was liquid carbo-loading relatively well, but wasn’t sure how much gas I would have left in the tank for the run. Still, with the headwind, I finished at 36.5 kph, slightly slower than my speed at Oshima tri in June.

Run 10K: I peeled off my Nanban rengo bike jersey at the transition, and after a 30 second transition, gave chase to Keren, who had slipped by me once again at the transition. Again the steep little hill at the start of the run was tougher than expected, and I felt I was at my max throughput for that first 1k. At the 1k point, the sign said “1k” and my watch read 3:40. No wonder I’m feeling drained! But the marker must have been wrong, because at the next 1k my watch said 8:30, and I hadn’t slowed that much. I was losing sight of Keren again, and wondered if I would be run down by other fast Nanbanners (Jay). In hindsight, I should have given chase, as the course became windy and it was too easy to lose sight of runners ahead. Once I lost sight of Keren on the first turn, I had little company from ahead or behind, and must have slowed. 3k and 4k were tough, but at the half way point I caught sight of Bevan lumbering along. I was gaining on him, but then realized he was 1 lap or 5 minutes ahead of me! But that gave me some encouragement, and I accelerated thru the 2nd 5k. My first 5k split was 21:40. I could picture Jay blistering along at 3:40 pace, but did not see him anywhere on the course. Still, I felt better and picked up the pace. I was passing runners again and only got passed 2 or 3 times on the run. I liked the downtown area of Murakami and there were tons of locals doing the “gamba gamba” cheer. At the 8k point I hadn’t seen anyone from my age group in ages, and began to fantasize about winning my age group. That hope and fear of being run down by Jay pushed me to my fastest 5k split ever in a “triathlon”, 20:12.

My final official times were:

Run 1k: 4:44 (52nd place out of 372 finshers)
Bike: 40k: 1:08:41 (41st place)
Run: 10k: 41:52 (71st place)
Total: 1:55:17 (50th place, 7th in age group out of 56)

So my bike was more competitive than my run, though I was happy with the run time. This seems to be a recurring theme. Anyway, I was happy with my 7th place in my age group, my highest place in a triathlon, disappointed that I couldn’t catch Keren, but I finally beat Jay!

Congrats to Keren for placing 2nd in his age group, and Jay placed 3rd with such a sparkling run that we all, in our drunken shinkansen revelry, memorized his time (36:48) on the ride home. Many thanks to Yumiko and Chris for setting up our ryokan, which had a fantastic onsen view of the Sea of Japan. I would do this race again in future, and thoroughly enjoyed being with the group of friends we had up there. Now on to the last event of my final triple feature this month, Choshi triathlon in Chiba this Sunday. Choshi ga ii ka naa…I am even more glad I signed up for this race now that Murakami swim was cancelled, as I can now go for a true PB. Looking forward to some R and R after 6 triathlons including 3 ironman events this summer! See you on the track.

Sing for the Moment

2008-09-11T04:02:00.000-07:00

The hot equatorial climate lived up to its billing, which meant a challenging bike and harsh run for this northern Asian habitant. However, I was happy to complete the race with a fairly competitive time despite low training hours since July Zurich ironman, finishing 14th in my age group of 200 men.

Singapore half ironman (70.3 miles)

Prerace: Morning prep went relatively smooth: a 5 am wake-up call, banana and cereal with toast in the hotel room, 6 am stroll to the start point, body markings, last minute bike air/adjustment. I felt unusually mellow before the race as I had gotten the big one done in July. Keren and I had the same start times at 7:35 am, so after the bikes were prepped, we made our way down to the beach to watch the pros and other age groups start before us.

Swim: I didn’t know what to expect from the swim, as this was my first tri without a wetsuit, but I knew my stroke was better than in previous races. The course looked fairly simple: 2 X 900 meter rectangular loops counter-clockwise. Although there was a staggered start, the 2 age groups in our start were huge with over 300 people, so there was much bumping and kicking at the high speed water entry. I thought the crowdedness would subside after 200 meters, but it never really did. I hugged the left side, foolishly hoping to reduce the distance. It seemed overcrowded with slow swimmers, but I thought it would clear out. I got kicked by a breast stroker and karate chopped by a free stylist, taking the kick squarely in the cheek and goggles. Despite the high traffic levels and lower buoyancy, I settled into a nice rhythm. By about 500 meters, I checked my watch and saw 11 minutes, slightly slower than normal wetsuit pace. The first loop was 20 minutes or so, and I ran by a roaring crowd on the beach, waved to Megumi, and dived in for 1 more lap of love. The 2nd loop went relatively smooth and I was able to use more freestyle than usual. I got held up by drowns of breastrokers from earlier age groups. Despite the increase in freestyle usage, I ended up with 41 minutes for 1.9k, slower than my 1:17 for 3.8k in the ironman Zurich. I blamed the lack of wetsuit buoyancy. Anyway, I was happy to get out of the water in 1 piece after all the kicking, punching, biting, scratching, and other horseplay...

T1: The transition took over 3 minutes as I went for socks, bike shorts, gloves.

Bike: The bike ride was also more crowded than I had reckoned it would be for 2 reasons: 1. The highway was relatively narrow with extended no-pass danger zones. 2. I was in one of the last swim starts, and thus was trying to pass most of the 1,400 riders in the field. I was cruising at 34-35 kph, and felt satisfied by the pace, but was a little frustrated with the lack of space and giant pelotons forming. “Is this the Tour de France or what?” a fellow rider commented. The course was 3 X 30k loops from the east coast to downtown Singapore. There wasn’t much to look at except the huge ferris wheel, construction projects, and skyscrapers. It was really hot on the unshaded highway. I was chasing Keren, and finally caught him at 75k turn. We rode together as there was still little space on the last lap. It didn’t help things when a motorcycle race staff perched himself on the divider line. Several of us nearly hit him and I yelled, “Get the f___ out of the way!” The bike course really exposed the lack of experience of the course organizers. There was hardly any solid food aid, a lack of drinks, narrow course, and obstacles such as that motorcycle that could have been avoided. We noticed a lot of crashes and a huge amount of DNF’s. Perhaps I was spoiled by the copious amounts of power bars, bananas, gels at the Zurich ironman. Anyway, at the 90k point, I wasn’t feeling so genki due to the lack of nutruition, high tempeture, and lack of bike training (I had only done 5 rides in the past 8 weeks). I tried to convince myself the run was a different race with different muscles, but didn’t feel confident as I dismounted Hillary. My bike time was 2:38:50, a PB.

T2: 2nd transition took too long, almost 3 minutes, as I forgot to take off my bike shorts and ran the wrong way initially.

Run: At 11 am in equatorial Singapore after 3 and 1/2 hours of swimming and biking, I dreaded the ominous half marathon in front of me. I started along the run course fully exposed to the direct sunlight and thought, “where is the shaded run course hyped by the course directors?” Nightmares of China’s IM haunted me as I hit the first of 3 7k loops. At 1k the sign said: 1k: 1st loop, 8k: 2nd loop, 15k: 3rd loop. I thought sardonically, “only 96% of the run left, Motozo!” At 2.5k turnaround, the course volunteers yelled “keep going!”, although I was supposed to turn around. Singlish for gambatte? I could see Keren moving at a blistering pace, already 2-3 minutes ahead of me, trying to run down our posse (Mika, Vanessa, Bevan) and anyone else in his path. At least the Mika (smiling torpedo) versus Keren contest was going to be interesting to watched as I plugged along at 5:30/k pace. At the next turn (6k), Keren had closed the gap with Mika, and they were both pulling away from me. Kawaii so, Motozo! With little fuel left in the tank, I dismissed the idea of catching them and focused on running the best time possible, which was a 5:25:00 at my current pace (1:57:00 21k run). I felt the heat and lack of nutrition taking its toll, and again was disappointed with lack of solid food on the course. The only solid food was bananas, and they weren’t even chopped up. Amazingly, they had delicious watermelons, oranges at the finish line, but not during the run when we needed the nutrition the most. After the 2nd loop (14k), I was more confident I could finish without walking alla China IM. I was really tempted to pull over and walk, but Megumi’s encouragement really kept me going. I did like how the back of the run course went thru a grassy bit and thru some palm tree cover. Hey this is Singapore! At 16k, I started the 5k countdown and began counting the kilometers, 100 meter intervals, paces, all of it to keep my mind off the fatigue. 5k, 4k, 3k, 2k, 1k to go…a tiny spurt at 500 meters to go got me under 5:25:00.

Official times:

Swim: 1.9k: 41:53 (14th place out of 161 age group finishers)
T1: 3:41
Bike: 90k: 2:38:50 (28th place)
T2: 2:46
Run: 21k: 1:57:44 (14th place)

Total: 5:24:56 (14th out of 161 age group, 133 overall)

Congrats to Keren, Mika, and Vanessa for podium finishes.
Keren was the star with a well thought-out and executed race. Most impressive was his run in the hostile heat. Omedeto to Mika, the celebrity queen of Singapore, for a gutsy run despite a heel injury. Thanks to Megumi for constant support and candid photos. It was a wonderful event and experience, but I will have to have a hard think before signing up for another hot weather ironman event.

naruhodo nariki bike mountain race

2008-08-18T05:59:00.000-07:00

An interesting race. The wet roads and crowded street made it difficult to maneuver on a triathlon bike, but an interesting experience, as I had never raced a pure bike road race before. But this was a mountain climb bike race, so I was in even more uncharted territory. I had no idea what to expect on race day.

When my group started we accelerated quickly up the gentle slope, and I had Hillary up over 20kph for the first 200 meters... I thought, this is easy...than we hit the first incline and my legs heated up. I was soon huffing and puffing, not used to the intensity on a bike (most of bike ironman training was long 3-6 hour rides at medium speed and low heartrate. I think my heartrate was faster than the Wednesday track workouts though. The roads were slippery and there were treacherous steel crates just for some extra slippage. At the halfway point (2.2k), I was passing a rider on his right, spun my back wheel, lost balance, hit the biker next to me as I had nowhere to go. He crashed as I regained balance. Felt very sorry but there was nothing I could do. The hill climb reminded me of the 4k climb called the beast in Zurich, except Nariki was a continuous climb. Tuff tuff tuff climb, but I managed to pass about 20 guys, and only got passed 2-3 times. Thanks to Keren for organizing and remembering to bring all his stuff!

Time for 4.4k was 21:43, about 12.1 kph.
Place was 152 out of 403 finishers.

motto元三

Like Swiss Chocolate

2008-07-20T02:58:00.000-07:00

The race was sweeter than Swiss chocolate. Ah, such a wonderful memory, such a fun-filled 7 days, climaxing with a half-day romp thru Lake Zurich and the surrounding Alps. I have so many thoughts and insights on this journey, that this long-winded blog will probably not do justice for, but here goes...

Pre-race prep/antics: Pasta, rain gear, and a crash
I arrived on Wednesday night, pasta loaded at the restaurant next door to my luxurious hotel, and went to bed early. I quickly assembled the bike Thursday morning, met Mika from Singapore for more pasta loading, and we set off to ride the main part of the bike course with about 20 hardcore early-bird ironmen. I met Lindsey and Jon along the ride, both going for their 1st ironman, and Debbie a veteran of 8 ironmen and 2 Kona appearances. I was impressed by both Debbie, a 10 1/2 hour finisher, and Lindsey, who was going for 10 1/2 hours on her first try. As soon as we set out on the 80k ride, we began to worry about the heat and fatigue of a ride so close to the race. But we figured it was almost essential to ride the course before Sunday, so we pressed on. At 30k, called Natasha Badmann (6 time ironman world champion and Suisse national) rest point, Mika had a minor crash in which she collided head on with another biker. The "biker" was actually a crazy guy on a shopping bike (mama chalet) who refused to move over when we road past him. Mika, unfortunately, was in his way, and it seemed as if he deliberately collided with her. He shouted at Mika in German until we all came back and returned fire. Mika was in shock, but body and bike were unscathed thank goodness!

We than climbed "the beast", a massive 4k hill with a 230 meter climb. This was the hill that I had been sweated over for months, and it was not easy. Although we took it slow, we were tired and hot at the top. The next 10k was a decline down the “egg” and a nasty little incline to the highest part of the course at 700 meters, or 2,200 feet above sea level. We groaned and commiserated, than coasted down a steep decline back to downtown Zurich, admiring the beach-like culture in the late afternoon along Lake Zurich. It was a gorgeous day reaching 28 degrees C (83 F) and the sun continued to shine until 9 PM. I ended up quite sunburned and tight in the legs, worrying if I had overdone it, but promised myself an easy swim on Friday and rest on Saturday before the big dance on Sunday.

On Friday morning, after a massive breakfast, most of my comrades from Tokyo had arrived at the hotel, but they were in bike exploration mode, while I was ready for a swim in the lake with wetsuit. The lake was comfortable at 20 degrees and quite refreshing on that hot day. This was followed by more bike adjustments from the kind yet eccentric Swiss bike doctors in the iron village. Next was the race briefing, which was quite basic and bare. They had assured us that all questions would be answered by the briefing, but they failed to go over each of the three courses in detail, which proved to be unwise. Mika made a wrong turn on the swim, and I had a couple myself on the bike and run. Friday night was the welcome party, which took too long and didn’t have enough carbs. It also started raining hard. I wasn’t feeling so warm and fuzzy…

Saturday brought more rain and cold temperatures, the average temperature falling from 22 to 16 degrees C in one day. My brother accompanied me to the iron village for last minute wet weather shopping which included a rain jacket, legwarmers, toe covers, all for the bike ride. Instead of 1 short-sleeved jersey, I was going to go with 3 layers including a waterproof jacket if this wet weather continued. After 2 pasta dinners, I was in bed by 10 PM, hoping to get 6 solid hours of sleep before my 4 AM wake-up call.

Race Day: It’s raining mad!
It was raining in the morning with big puddles forming. I wondered how slow I would have to take it on the bike declines, or if I could stay warm. I ate a bagel and scoffed cornflakes and fruit before joining the Sumie, Fabien, Brodie, and Martin at the lobby. We rode the train 6 minutes to the start. We got there at 5:30 AM, 90 minutes before the 7 AM starting bell. 90 minutes seemed like a long time, but it went quickly. I arranged my bike and run clothing underneath a large white bike cover, praying that they would not get wet. I put on my wetsuit in the large reception tent, stretched, and tried to focus on the race: nice and easy swim, conservative bike with plenty of nutrition and even splits, and let the run take care of itself. It was 6:30 AM and I headed down to the swim area, fully lubricated with glide and Vaseline.

Swim: A little bit of love
It was 13 degrees, but I was toasty in my wetsuit. I was worried about taking off the wetsuit and riding Hillary Swank, my bike, up into the mountains later that morning. It was still raining and cold as they sent off the pros at 6:55 AM. We were than immediately instructed to get in the water for a deep water start, which meant we had to tread water for 5 minutes. That wasn’t so bad in a wetsuit though. I tried to conserve energy while treading water gently and advancing as much as I could to the front of mass of swimmers. I needed every inch I could get given my swimming stroke! The gun went off and my heart came alive. Finally after months of training, I was swimming in Lake Zurich. I did my customary routine, 8 strokes free style, 2 breast strokes to locate the buoys. I was determined to swim straight this race, as I had lost valuable time in the past 2 swims in Oshima and China. At the first turn at 500 meters, there was mass confusion, as hundreds of swimmers were bunched up in a standstill, not knowing which way to go. “Which way?”, we shouted. After a while, someone pointed to another buoy which seemed to be a 90 degree right turn, and we were off again. I have to say that the swim course was just about the coolest thing I have ever done. We got done with the first 1.8k loop, which brought us to a “strait”, or a narrow strip of water that separated a tiny island from the mainland. At the back end of the tiny island, we were amphibians, jogging past and high-fiving spectators (including my parents and brother) on that tiny island. I was happy to come in at just over 30 minutes, ahead of schedule, and thought “1 more lap and a little bit of love”. My unorthodox stroke seemed to be working...

The first lap I had felt boxed in from all sides, but the second lap felt a little better as the field opened up. I got into a more normal groove. As I rounded the last buoy and headed home, I saw 1:04 on my watch, which I figured would allow me to cruise in at 1:15-1:20, better than my 1:20-1:30 target. So I took it real slow and easy as advised by veteran ironman Keren, and re-landed at 1:17.

T1: The soggy bagel
I jogged slowly to the bike transition area. T1 turned out to be the beginning of the most challenging part of the race. The rain was still coming down, and the wetness, extra clothing, crowd noise, etc. distracted me somewhat. I had neatly placed under the bike cover my bike clothing, shoes, and food. To my horror, the bagel had gotten wet and literally disintegrated as I tried to stuff it into my bike shirt pocket. Further, the wetsuit took a couple of minutes to get off. I had so much clothing: short-sleeve shirt, long shirt, rain jacket, leg tights, bike shorts, head band, gloves, etc. It took forever to get it all on. I gave up on the soggy bagel and bit the last piece out of desperation. My brother was at the entrance nearby and could see the comedy of errors: “c’mon Dave, get on the bike already!”. At long last, I wheeled Hillary to the gate nearly 9 minutes later.

Bike: Heartbreak and the beast
The first bit of the bike leg always feels good to me as my legs tend to be underutilized on the swim. But again I was cautious and slow for two reasons; 1. The roads were wet and visibility limited, and 2. I wanted to save my legs for the second half of the bike and marathon. I was also worried about nutrition due to the soggy bagel incident. That bagel was the only food I had packed and I wasn’t sure how reliable or substantial the power bars, gels, fruits, drinks at the help stations would be. I cruised down the first 30k flat course at 33-35 kph. At 20k, I grabbed power gels and bars and feasted. I wasn’t working very hard and felt cold in the legs and extremities. My torso felt nice and toasty as the rain jacket completely blocked out any moisture. At 50k, I tackled the beast, a 230 meter climb over 4k. I was able to stay in second gear and remain mostly seated, and felt a cold sweat for the first time of the day. After the beast, I was surprised to pull up to Mika, who is usually behind me after the swim (in China, she passed me on the run). “Ohayo gozaimasu”, I greeted. “Genki?”, I asked. “Samui, samui!”, Mika shivered. I imagined it must have been really cold for Mika, a hot weather specialist, as I was feeling uncomfortable in the cold rain. It was 13 degrees in downtown Zurich, but felt colder in the hills on a bike. After another tough incline up the egg, I took the decline to Zurich easy, using my brakes liberally. I hit 50 kph on the big hill, versus +60 kph a few days earlier on the test run. The road was just too wet to take any chances. I was stocking up on power bars and gels at each rest station, but had some trouble getting the bars open as my fingers were numb, so I used my teeth to rip the wrappers open. As I descended into Zurich I prepared myself for heartbreak hill at 80k, and hoped that my family would be there to warm my spirits. At this point, I remember thinking it was about 4 hours into the race, a daunting 1/3 of the total target time. These thoughts disciplined me to keep the pace nice and easy. I told myself I would speed up later if I still had gas in the tank…At 80k, I downshifted into the second smallest gear and climbed heartbreak hill at 8-12 kph. It reminded me of the mountain stages of the tour de France on TV, except the crowds were yelling Hopp Hopp Hopp (I guessed Go or fighto or gambatte in German). The hill wasn’t so bad, much easier than the beast. Near the top my parents and brother yelled out my name. I was moving so slowly that we could have a conversation and Dan filled me in on logistics and took pictures. The IM Suisse people also called out the at bikers name, which was a nice touch. HB hill was only 1k or so, so it really didn’t break me. I coasted down the hill to the 90k halfway point, which was at the original starting point. With one bike lap to go and a 42k run, I could see a tiny glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. My 90k split was 3:10-3:15, so I figured a 6:30-6:40 bike was in the cards for 180k. Slightly disappointing, but it could not be helped.
The second half of the bike was rather uneventful. I felt soreness all over. At the 120k point Natasha Badmann stop, I again prepared myself mentally and physically for the beast. I tried to take it easy and eat as much as possible, but was getting sick of bananas, bars, and gels. At the beast, I shifted into the smallest gear this time. The rain had subsided and I felt warmth for the first time of the day. The hairy beast had some wicked hairpin turns, which made it interesting to observe the riders above and below. I tried to keep my mind off the physical pain. Everything ached. It wasn’t that I was winded, only that my body wanted to get out of that crouched position. My neck, back, buttocks, hamstrings, calves all had that +140k achy feeling. It was a long second lap, and I hadn’t seen anyone I knew since the Mika samui sighting. I wondered how Fabien, Sumie, and the others were getting on. I thought about striking up a conversation with other riders just to make the time go by, but everyone seemed to be focused on the road ahead. Anyway, I made it to the top of the beast and descended down towards the egg. There were a lot of windy turns on the downhills, and I made a wrong turn on one of them. I had to stop, do an about face, and yelled angrily at the street marker guy who had raised his arrow sign as I was turning the wrong way. After the big egg climb at 160k, I started to feel warmer and fuzzier, and hit 60 kph on the big hill as the road had dried up. Back at the lake, there was some 2-way car traffic, which was annoying. I had little patience for other cars as I could see the fast bikers had already started the run. Another heartbreak hill climb and I was done. How good did it feel to get off that saddle after 6 1/2 hours!

T2: Full moon
I was pleasantly surprised to see my family unit perched near my bike transition zone, snapping pictures at my bare butt, and yelling encouragement. I felt like the homecoming queen. I put Hillary back in the rack, stripped off the multiple bike layers, got on my comfortable running shorts, singlet, fresh socks, shoes, and felt like a new man. I jogged past my family, high fives all around. My legs felt sore but ready to run, a credit to those weekly brick trainings runs in April-June.

Run: Yappari run ga juncho
I was fairly unfamiliar with the run course. All I knew was it was flat and 4 loops. Turns out each loop passed the main finish area no less than 4 times. This meant lots of chances to absorb the crowd’s energy. In the first 5k, I ate, drank, answered nature’s call, and felt generally good. I was cruising at just over 5 minute per k pace, and passing runners rapidly. After the first feeding frenzy of apples, bananas, hot bouillon soup, sports drink, I felt a surge of energy. At about 15k I realized that the bouillon soup had magical qualities, probably from the high salt content. At 20k, I had 1:50 on my watch for the run, and fantasized about a sub-12 hour time if I could just crack 4 hours for the marathon. But I hit a lull and slowed at 20-30k. I started taking in cokes and thought of Jay’s caffeine obsession and ironman experience. I toyed with the idea of drinking red bull, but didn’t want to risk an upset stomach. Memories of the China 1/2 ironman haunted me. I had to walk every 1K in China in the blistering 35 degree heat. But this was my day, and there would be no taifu to spoil the party.

The crowd’s energy was intoxicating, and I soaked up every ounce of it. There was also plenty of eye candy around. I saw all my Tokyo comrades except Sumie. I pulled up to Fabien, exchanged hopp hopps, and moved on at about 32k. We were wearing colored bracelets. For each 10k lap, you received a different colored bracelet. I now had all 4 bracelets, and I got my second wind (or 3rd or 4th wind?). Only 10k plus a little bit of love to go…I had about 1 hour to run the last 10.2k if I wanted a sub-4 marathon and sub-12 hour total. My swim and bike and transitions were exactly 8 hours. I felt confident I could do it, although I was in completely uncharted territory. I had never trained nor raced for more than 7 hours in one sitting, and I was on the 11th hour. Still, all I needed was to cruise under 6 minute k pace, and I had been averaging 5 1/2 minute pace for 32k. These mental calculations and watch checks kept me focused on the goal. I thought, 1 or 2 more carbo feedings, and I would be home free. Each mileage sign showed 4 distances for each lap. I was now on the final lap, and it felt good to be passing each sign for the last time. At 37k, I had about 30 minutes, which suited me fine. Barring a last minute injury or accident, I thought I could do it. I slowly pushed down the accelerator and began passing runners again. At the final turn around 40k, I was feeling more and more euphoria. Just one more hill and turn into the final stretch. At 41k, I pulled up to a runner with 4 bracelets. Another guy encouraged both of us to get in under 12 hours. We chatted for a couple of minutes and than could hear the finish line bustle. Again more endorphins hit my leg muscles. I sped up to 4 1/2 minute pace as I could see the yellow decorations and other paraphernalia at the finish. They announced, David Rubenstein, from Nanban Rengo in Tokyo, Japan, and the crowd went wild. I crossed the finish line in 11:57:50.

Final splits and places:
3.8k Swim: 1:17:37 (265 place out of 452 in age group)
180k Bike: 6:29:55 (313 place) 1st 90k: 3:11:07 (28.2 kph), 2nd 90k: 3:18:48 (27.2 kph)
42K Run: 3:57:02 (223 place) 1st 10k: 52:53 (5:17/k), 2nd 11k: 59:09 (5:22/k), 3rd 10k: 1:03:23 (6:20/k), 11k: 1:01:37 (5:36/k)

Total: 11:57:50 (223 place out of 452 in age group, 1001 place out of 2,200)

Overall, I shattered my goal of 12:30 to 13 hours, and was very happy with the run and swim. The bike was slower than I had thought. I had targeted 6 to 6 1/2 hours, but the rain and fatigue on the 2nd loop took its toll. Those hills drained me. I should have done more hill climbing in Tokyo, but the raining season wasn’t kind, and I spend many weekends riding the bike trainer indoors. The transitions were pitiful. The jet lag, a 7 hour time difference, turned out to be a limited factor. I did feel some extra fatigue in the 2nd half of the run, which would have been past my bedtime in Tokyo, but could not pin it down to jet lag or generally tiredness.

I am most satisfied with my last 11k on the run. I was clearly hurting at 21-30k, but somehow dug down deep to accelerate from a 6:20 pace to a 5:36 pace. I credit those long lonely runs in Yoyogi Park on Sundays, and extra miles in before track sessions on Wednesday nights. Here is a typical hard training week before ironman:

Monday: Swim 2.5k: 1:10, 20 X 50 meters fast
Tuesday: Bike trainer spin: 1:06, Brick run: 31:12
Wednesday: Track: speed workout ladder, max at 1200 @ 4:44; 5k warmup, 11k total
Thursday: Swim 3.3k: 1:30, 10 x 200 meters on 4:20; Bike spin: 45 minutes
Friday: OFF!
Saturday: Arakawa bike ride 165k: 5:40:35, Brick run: 30 minutes, 5k
Sunday: Yoyogi long run: 35k: 3:29:17

Total 1 week: 15.9 hours, swim 6.3k, bike 218k, run 56k

Orei: I wanna thank my mother...
So many people to thank for this journey. I wanna thank my mother and father. Not only were they kind enough to conceive me on a wintry night in 1967, but they flew all the way from NY to witness my entire ironman debut (minus a 2 hour nap during the bike). Same goes for my brother Daniel. Thanks Dan for the encouragement and sound advice in the days before and during the race. Thanks to Megumi for comfort and support all the way through to the big day. Thanks to Fabien for rallying up the troops in Tokyo for the Zurich trip. Congrats to Brodie, Sumie, Martin, and Fabien in Zurich. Zannen to Mika in Singapore, but we all know this is a humbling sport with ups (China) and downs (Zurich). Thanks to my Jefferies colleagues including Nigel for relentless encouragement. Thanks to the nanban guys for companionship and support in training. Special thanks to triathlon specialists Keren, Mary, Jay, Stu, Chad, Chris, Gerard, Dave, Mika T, Mike, Bevan, Anthony, my bike mentor Ben, my swim coach Greg. You all made those long rides, runs, and swims more meaningful!

Go here for more photos and videos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dkrubenstein/DaveSTriathlonPhoto

Oshima triathlon: deja vu all over again

2008-06-10T05:15:00.000-07:00

In summary, a harsh swim, nice bike, and mediocre run. This was my second trip to Oshima, a wonderful, quaint island only 2 hours by jet boat from the Tokyo bay, and the result was like dejavu all over again. I finished in 42nd place. 2 years ago I finished in 43rd place, although there were more participants 2 years ago.

Swim: 31:59 78th place
Bike: 1:09:28 38th place
Run: 46:21 55th place

Total: 2:27:48 42nd place out of 190 men.

I was happy to get a PB, although the race 2 years ago was a 2:11:15 with a shortened swim of about 0.8k. So I figured I would have gotten about 2:25-2:30 that last time, so only an official PB. Last year's Ishigakijima tri was a slow one also at 2:30:55 due to a hamstring injury.

Swim: Right from the start the going was tough. We had to step gingerly over rocks for several meters before wading into the waves. And it was super wavey! I thought it would get better after we got past the surf, but there were swells throughout the course, and I never really got into a good rhythm. After I got around the furthest buoy, I checked my watch and saw 18 minutes, so figured it was straight back to the beach. But at the next buoy, the lifeguard directed us out to sea again! I groaned and realized that I wasn't going to get anyway near my 27 minute goal. I tried to pick it up on the 2nd loop but arrived at the beach just under 32 minutes, cursing the surf and rocks.

Bike: After a long 4 minute transistion and some needed encouragement from Megumi, I jumped on Hillary Swank and zoomed up the coast, hoping to make up the lost time on the bike. The ride went pretty well. I averaged 37 KPH, passing many bikers in the first 20k. My 10k splits were 16:53, 16:00, 15:40, 16:11. I even got to practice for ironman by eating a onigiri on the 2nd lap. It felt good to hold this pace and I didn't feel much fatigue throughout the 40k.

Run: I started out slow, feeling some tightness in the legs and knowing well that my my 2:20 goal was out of reach. I was also worried about my sprained ankle and lower back aches. Both held up well, and I accelerated at 2K with the wind behind me. I saw Chris flying by at my 3K point, so figured he would finish in a sparkling 2:10-2:15, than hit the turnaround at about 24 minutes. Shortly after I saw Keren bearing down on me, about 500 meters behind. Fearing ultimate shame, I sped up and finished the 2nd 5k in about 22 minutes. I didn't feel very tired at the end, just a sore lower back. It was a frustrating run again as I realized I should have hit it harder on the first 5k.

I suppose I need to lower my expectations after 2 tough races in a row. Hopefully a better result in Zurich will be in the cards next month. At least the swim in Lake Zurich won't be as rough, albeit longer. Oshima is a great scenic course and I will be back next year if the timing is right. Many thanks to Stuart for setting up the entire trip. Thanks to Megumi and Robin for great photos and support. And a big omedeto to Anthony for completing his first tri.

ironman training update, 9 weeks to go

2008-05-11T04:54:00.000-07:00

Sugoi! What an iron week it has been. With the help of the golden week holiday, I did 16 hours this week of training, and also managed a nice, relaxing 2 day respite in Hakone (in between bikes and runs). We actually ran around Lake Ashinoko, which is pictured here from the top of Mount Komagatake, where we hiked up and rode the gondola down.

With 9 weeks to go, I feel stronger and more confident. Below is my past 2 weeks of training, which has been the start of the real ramp in training following the China half-ironman:

April 28-May 4

Monday 2.3k swim, 1 hour
Tuesday 25k bike, 1 hour, 15k run, 1.2 hours
Wednesday 10k run at track, 1 hour
Thursday 2.8k swim, 1.5 hours
Friday off
Saturday 10k TELL run, 44 minutes, 10k bike, 30 minutes
Sunday 83k bike, 3 hours, 20k brick run, 1:45

Week total: 179K, 11.9 hours, 5.1k swim, 119k bike, 55k run

May 5-11

Monday 105k bike, 4 hours

Tuesday 4k hike, 1 hour

Wednesday 21k run in Hakone, 2 hours

Thursday 2.4k swim, 1 hour

Friday off

Saturday 30k run, 2:44, 2.5k swim, 1 hour

Sunday 95k bike, 3:17, 9k brick run, :55

Week total: 269K, 16.0 hours, 4.9k swim, 200k bike, 65k run

So this past week was the monster week. I hit my peak goal of over 15 hours with 16 hours. An extra bike on Monday helped, plus an extra long half marathon run with Meg (arigatou!) on Wednesday around Ashinoko in Hakone. I feel good on the brick runs after long bike rides, maintaining a 5 to 5 1/2 minute pace for 9k to 20k. The long run on Saturday was tough due to a bloody blister on my right foot and some aches during the last 10k, but my stamina felt OK. Thanks to Mika for staying with me for the first 20k around the 2.5k Yoyogi park loops. And a big shout to ironman Chad for riding with me 2 consecutive days on Sunday and Monday of the golden weekend. Topped off Saturday with a 1 hour swim after a acupuncture session. My hari guy is saying that my hamstring is looking better. I think the 65k run this week proves that somewhat. The monster weekend finished off this monster week with an exclamation point!. I did about 8 hours on Saturday and Sunday: 2.5k swim, 95k bike, 39k run, so about 2/3 of an ironman in 2 days. Not too shabby for a rainy weekend....

half-Japanese, half-ironman

2008-04-24T05:54:00.000-07:00

After 6 days, the stiff and swollen feeling has resided from my calves and thighs. Hillary Swank, my time trial triathlon bike, sits in pristine state, freshly unpacked and swiped clean of layers of chinese silt, dust, sweat, gatorade, and other substances picked up in Hainan island, the "Hawaii of china". Initially I was disappointed with the race results. Actually, relief was the first reaction seconds after the race, than disappointment and frustration, than appreciation for my health and life experience.

Times:

Swim 1.5-1.8k: 31:55 106th place

Bike 90k: 2:59:29 63rd place

Run 21.1k: 2:19:19 49th place

Overall 53rd place out of 205

12th place out of 37 in age group (top 32 percentile)

The times for bike and run were disappointing, worse than my last half-ironman in Sado 2 years ago. Obviously it was hot. We reckoned between 35-40 degrees C on the run, as a taifoon had swept thru the island 2 days prior. But I was less competitive than the last Sado race. Perhaps the quality of ironmen was higher at hainan than sado. In Sado, I placed 14th out of 83 in my age group (top 17 percentile) versus top 32 percentile in hainan. Or I was in worse shape, or had a bad day. I was severly dehydrated and cramping up, but I suppose most of the runners had the same problem. My run was by far my slowest half marathon, and I walked quite a bit, but actually the most competitive leg of the 3 for me. Hard to believe...

Swim: This turned out to be the easiest part of the race, despite the last minute confusion. I zigzagged too much around the turns and lost some valuable time. At one point, I found myself swimming with one other guy, looked for the rest of pack, and realized that I had swung too wide outside the turnaround buoy. I also swam too much breast stroke. The water was really murky, so I could not see and had to pull up into breast stroke. I pulled into the shore in around 31 minutes. It must have been shortened by 300 meters or so, since I had targeted about 40 minutes for 1.9k, and I didn't have a very fast swim. I could see my teammates pulling out of the water just in front of me as I hit the beach.

Bike: I was happy to get on the bike and whiz thru the course, but it didn't really happen like that. I realized that I had forgotten my socks, so had to ride barefoot, and my feet quickly blistered up. It was also very very hot, and only 9:30 in the morning. We were in for a scorcher...I cruised along the first few k and felt ok, but had no appetite. I stuffed a half power bar and gel down my throat anyway. I passed teammates Stuart and Mary pretty quickly, in the first 5k or so. After 15k, I had still no sight of Jay, and began to wonder if I was going too slow. My average speed was around 28 KPH at that point, which seemed too slow. I usually cruise at 33-35 KPH, but this was an exceptionally hot day. I finally caught up to Jay after 30k. He looked pretty good, and we chatted for a minute, before I headed off. At the 35k turnaround he was right behind me. I remember feeling overheated even at the the first 30k. The next 20k or so went ok, but than we turned off the highway at about 53k, into Dao Tang Village. I was feeling more hot and fatigue, and the hills and turns didn't really help. I did chat with a couple of riders as we headed thru the local villages, which were interesting and took my mind off the heat and fatigue. I was, however, more interested in getting the bike done quickly, but we slowed to a crawl at a few points. The roads were bumpy and steep at points. My average speed started to fall again below 29. At one point around 70k we climbed another village hill, than coasted down and hit a sharp right turn, where I almost crashed. There were no signs. I later learned that a pro had crashed and broken her arm at that point of the course. Villagers were so supportive, yelling constantly "go go jian yo" although they had probably never seen a triathlon before. It meant literally "gas station" or more appropriately "hit the gas boy!" I think the local villagers were more amazed to see us than any other race I have done. There were also nice things to gaze at on the side such as water buffalo, rice fields, quaint little alleyways and stores. We were in the real China. But I was getting cramps in my left thigh and calves, so really could not appreciate the scenary so much. I hit the gas pedal despite the heat and cramps.. At 80k, I was back on the highway and heading mostly downhill. I finally got into a fast groove as the cramps had resided, but I guess most was thanks to the slight downhill and wind. I pulled into the Sheraton hotel transition in just under 3 hours, almost exactly 30 kph..pathetic!

Run: Than it all started to go pear-shaped. Actually I knew I was in trouble back on the bike, but my first few hundred meters confirmed that my legs were toast. I cramped up almost immediately, and had to pull over to stretch. I started to jog again, but the stiffness in my thighs was quite acute, and I could barely stand up. I sat down on the curb and rested for a minute, stretching the muscles, using my yoga 101 training. It worked somehow, and I got up and pondered on down the blistering road. At 2K I knew I would be run down by Jay, as I had seen him pull in on the bike a few minutes behind me. He came at about 3 or 4K. To my surprise, a few K later, Mika, another teammate from Singapore, came up from behind with a head of steam, probably faster than Jay. I tried to run with her for a grand total of 100 meters, but quickly gave up. I was now running 4 minutes and walking 1 minute for every 5 minutes until the 10k point. But I could not keep that routine going. Did I mention that it was hot? There was also limited shade. I saved the walking bits for the shade, so I tried to run thru the hot spots, which were many! After 10k, I was taking a walk break every 2-3 minutes. At 15k, I was walking more than running up the dreaded hot evil bridge. At the turnaround on the top of the bridge, I felt some psychological relief, and picked up the pace for 2-3k. I could not hold it for long, and the last 3k was excrutiating. It must have taken me 7 or 8 minutes per k for that last bit. I played little games with the other runners. I would run by a few people, than slow to a fast walk. They would pass me, than I would start running and pass them, than slow again. We did this for the last 10k. Maybe it helped...who can say..at the end I could see I was not even close to a PB, and it became a matter of finishing without injury. As I ran thru downtown Haikou for the last 2k, everyone chanted in unison go go jian yo. Than I would stop and go into my walking bit, and they would all crack up. "Why aren't you running?", they seemed to ask....but I am sure they knew the answer...it was so hot that the spectators on the side looked really uncomfortable. At about 1k from the finish, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a Japanese woman wearing all black long sleeves and pants. I could not believe it. There was no way she was going to pass me wearing that suicide suit. I accelerated using the last bit of gas (jian) in the tank, and pulled thru in an embarrasing 6 hours flat.

The post-run massage tent took me over immediately and rubbed me down. I was so grateful. I felt satisfaction, happiness, and frustration all at once....

The post-event festivities were quite nice. We all commiserated, lamented, and celebrated. It was great to meet so many motivated ironmen. Mika had a great race, finishing first in her age group and #4 woman overall! Jay had a nice effort too, and he placed 3rd in his age group. It was a great experience to go to China with all the athletes (Stuart, Mary, Mike, Mika, Jay, Agnes). I still have a lot of work to do for Zurich full ironman in July, but at least the heat won't be as harsh. I felt that this race was the hardest thing I have ever done.

A mid-winter ski excursion to Nozawa onsen

2008-03-04T06:30:00.000-08:00

1st day blizzard

間もなくgondolaが参ります

our little town in nagano ken
ski ga suki desu

sunny sunday

whadda view

Yuka dekimashita

Tokyo Marathon...no sunday walk thru the park

2008-02-18T05:15:00.000-08:00

What a difference a year makes! 2 years ago during a marathon in Ohtawara, I ran a very uncomfortable 3:28 after borderline training. Yesterday's marathon was more of the same, with an ever slower result after only 10K per week for the past month. This was a stunning contrast to my PB 3:08 in 2007. The moral of the day was this: It is more fun to run a fast competitive race when in good shape than to run a "fun race" when out of shape. Still, despite swollen and stiff legs, I am injury free and happy to have had the experience.

It started innocently enough with a pleasant journey with the well-tapered nanbanners to Tokyo Bigsite on Saturday, an extra large pasta for lunch, the usual caffeine and alcohol withdrawal, and a long sleep on Friday night. Saturday night's sleep was rather restless but I felt fairly fresh after a shower, well-timed train ride, starbucks latte, power bar, and short walk to our starting point at B block. This year the weather was fortuitous. Sunny and chilly, but I had on 4 layers, and felt nice and toasty at the start. Keren, Jay, Martin, Alex and I made small talk waiting for the gun to go off. Mayor Ishihara said his thing, the confetti flew, the guns shot, and we were off...thru the start gate in 2 minutes. I cruised a very slow jog with Keren until he found some open space and accelerated away. I was quite content to let some speed demons pass by, as my goal was to only finish without any injury.

The first 10K of Tokyo Marathon is quite pleasant, with a nice downhill and plenty of cheer and eye candy. I chatted with several nanbanners along the way including Chiba san and Anthony (who was snapping photos as we ran). I was very mindful of my lower back and hamstring injuries, and took liberal breaks to slowdown and drink at every opportunity. I even pulled over a couple of times to stretch the legs, which I usually don't do in a marathon.

I really enjoyed the middle bit of the marathon. On the way down to Shinagawa from 10k to 15K, I hugged the left side of the road and scanned the other side for the leaders. Daniel Njenga, last year's winner, was in the middle of the lead pack and looked good, but it was not to be for Danny on this day. Several minutes later I saw Yoshida san go by at a sparkling pace, followed by several nanbanners below 3 hour pace. The sun was than shining on us in between the shadows of the buildings in Shiba koen, Shinagawa, Daimon, Hibiya, etc, and I actually generated some heat (I had tossed 1 shirt away at 5K). Some runners were sweating profusely, particularly the gaijin beasts. At the Shinagawa turnaround at 15k, I again hugged the left side and headed back up to Hibiya, greeting Shiba san, and high 5-ving Carol. I guess at that point I was in the middle of the nanban contingency..not too fast, not too slow, goldilocks scenario. However, that would soon change. I finished the 1H at 1:53, which was right on my aggressive target of 3:45 (soft target was 4 hours).

At the halfway point, I felt a momentary lapse of energy (and reason), given that there was little eye candy and I was actually feeling tired (funny surprise!). I had plenty of air, just not enough drive in the legs. I headed up thru Ginza at my slowest split of 28:39. Up until 20K, I had been running 26-27 minute splits, so I knew motozo was losing his mojo at that point. At 23K or so, the scenary got better as we were passing the leaders again, and I could block out the fatigue with the search for familiar faces in the crowds of runners. Just at the turnaround at Asakusa at 27k, I saw my ex-colleague and CEO of Japaninvest. Soon after Rupert I spotted Yuka, and so I thought about trying to catch both of them. I accelerated slightly to 28:03 for that 25-30K split. I was passing a lot of runners now, but soon felt more fatigue and heaviness in my legs and feet. Well I definetely am getting the biggest workout of the year, I thought. (this past month I have been jonesing for a good workout)

The last 10K was excruciating. I abandoned any thoughts of catching Rupert or Yuka. It was just a matter of finishing under the embarrasingly low hurdle of 4 hours. What was worse is this course has a few nasty hills in the last 7K, which forces us out-of-shape runners to slow to a crawl. Trudging up one of those hills, I bumped into a familiar runner. It was Peter pulled over, cramped up. I gave him a quick 30 second yoga 101 course, and we jogged ahead together for a K or so. At the next water break, I slowed but lost Peter, and didn't have the patience to look around for him. Sorry Peter! I continued on. At 40K, I knew I could finish but it was harsh. 2K to go, than the 41K mark, than 1K to go! There was no strong gallop to the finish this year, only a half-baked stride across the finish. But I was happy.

Splits:

5K: 26:17

10K: 25:32

15K: 27:09

20K: 27:17

25K: 28:39

30K: 28:03

35K: 30:06

40K: 31:30

42K: 13:06

Total: 3:57:43

Will Motozo redeem himself in the ironman this summer? Stay tuned for more...

Fun in the sun before Tokyo Marathon

2008-02-16T01:51:00.001-08:00

Just a brief update the day before the big race...my training has been non-existent, but I blame nothing but my lame lower back and hamstring...after a couple of decent weeks of training in early January, I headed to the desert in Arizona for some quality family time, which coincided with sharper back aches. This prompted a 2 week layoff in Arizona and the following week in Tokyo. The 2 golf outings with the very genki Dad unit, who just turned 74, probably didn't do much justice for my lower back, but worth the fun in the sun. Little niece Celia is turning into a intelluctual sponge. Each day is filled with new discoveries, activities, and words (including Japanese)....

Back to the marathon tomorrow, this could be my slowest time ever. I target anything under 4 hours. 3:49 is my all-time slowest back when I was a freshman runner nearly a decade ago. My mileage ramped to 50K in mid-January, but fell to 10K the past 2 weeks as the back pains became more acute. A trip last week to the doctor, Tokyo Physio, shiatsu, and several acupuncture visits seemed to help things as I can now walk and jog without discomfort. This race will essentially be a jog amongst friends. I am more curious about how the runs turn out for teammates Keren, Mary, Paddy, Steve, Jay, and many other nanbanners. In particular, fellow triathletes Mary and Keren, who have been training hard, could produce a couple of PBs if the weather holds up. Hopefully I come thru without injury. Looking forward to swimming and biking more as the weather heats up in March. Next stop is Hainan half-ironman in April..will update this after the marathon tomorrow..some mileage numbers:

Jan. 1-6: 51K run, 60K bike, 8 hours

Jan. 7-13: 46K run, 60K bike, 6.5 hours

Jan. 14-20: 11K run, 1 hour

Jan. 21-28: 0 run, 50K bike?, 3 hours

Jan. 29-Feb. 3: 32K run, 3 hours

Feb. 4-10: 10K run, 1 hour

Feb. 11-17: 12K run + 42K marathon??, 5 hours?????

Hakone ekiden, day 2 finale

2008-01-03T06:23:00.000-08:00

Just as Motozo predicted in yesterday's blog, Komazawa daigaku prevailed with 5 strong legs in day 2 today to take it's 6th championship at Hakone since 2000. Waseda had a small 1:14 lead going into the first leg of today's race, and it's starter Kato ran a sensational first leg to lift Waseda's lead to over 3 minutes. But from that point it was all downhill for Waseda as Komazawa chipped away at the lead in its 2nd and 3rd legs, reducing the lead to a mere 15 seconds by the 4th leg. It only took the 4th leg runner Sakai a few K to pull even with Waseda, and they ran together for several K. At about 7K he pulled away for good and gave Komazawa over a 1 minute lead, which anchor Ota preserved easily.
Juntendo, Tokai, and Nihon taiiku daigaku were all disqualified and must compete in the fall this year for a spot in next year's race.

Thanks to Satohi chan for organizing Akasaka run today. An excellent 1.3k course to mix up interval workouts if you are bored by the track or palace...

I ran with 3 fast girls Rie, Masako, and Satohi for most of the 6 intervals. Splits were:

1K: 3:50

1K: 3:45

1K: 3:46

1K: 3:45

1K: 3:47

1K: 3:42

This again was the best 6 x 1000 workout in about a year since the tokyo marathon and even tougher than a normal workout as it was 6 1/2 intervals with a 300 meter jog, so very little time to rest at the start. Rie ran particularly well too. We celebrated our monster 13K interval workout with an izakaya and karaoke in yoyogi, which knocked me horizontal...

Hakone ekiden, day 1

2008-01-01T22:14:00.000-08:00

Nice watching this exciting race today, and a great performance from Waseda's "Ace" Takizawa, who pulled the teamfrom 12th place to 5th place on his 3rd leg. Anchor (5th leg) and captain Komano passed early leader Yamanashi gakuin (thanks to a sparkling run by Kenyá's Mogusu) to gain #1 spot along with Komazawa daigaku, and soon gapped Komazawa for a 1:14 lead at the finish of the first day.If my calculations are correct, that's about a 3:05 average pace for 108K 5 legs for Waseda.
Too bad about Juntendo daigaku, whose last runner collapsed within a few hundred meters of the finish. So Juntendo, the champion last year, is out.
I guess Komazawa is the favorite tomorrow with its long history of wins. I have no idea on the depth of the Waseda squad though...anyone else watching?

Holiday week has been lazy with a trip to Nagano squeezed in..Here are the numbers:

Monday, Dec 24: Holiday palace run

15K: 1:17:25

Wed track: 5K time trial

5K: 20:28 last 1K: 3:50 (fastest 5K of 2007, believe it or not!) total 8K run

Sat in Nagano, Yatsugatake up hills at 1000 meters

8K: 47:30

Sun ski at Panorama Ski area

Total: 32K for the week (3 hours)

But this week looking better with a 2 hour bike/run on Tuesday, Jan 1...

And some training down time...countdown party revelers, what would oshogatsu and nenmatsu be without K1 and kickboxing?!

Nagano Yatsugatake mountain getaway..it is called Fujimi Panorama Ski resort. It snowed heavy the night before fortunately, though most of the white stuff is artificial this year.

Kamakura..cool and clear sights on 2008

2007-12-17T03:59:00.000-08:00

This was the a perfect day in Shonan touristy old capital town, Kamakura, home of the big buddha and luxury resorts an hour from Tokyo. Thanks to Jay, the trailrunner guru, 20 of us, weaved and bobbed around the mountain trails, beaches, and temples. This was our 3rd annual run, and we seem to be getting into a nice groove. It took us 2:37 to run 25K, so probably the longest time running for your humble narrator in 10 months (since the Tokyo marathon) and over 6 minute pace. After the "warm-up" on the mountain trails, we hit the accelerator button on the beach for a nice 2-3k stretch, than a tough climb up to "Beverly Hills", and back along the beach to the station. Nearly 3 hours of running reduced us to cravings for food, drink, and sento, which were all gratified instantly after the run. Numbers for the week:

Run: 35K, 2 runs
Swim: 2.2K, 1 swim

Bike: 20K, 1 bike

Total time training this week: 5:20

I am starting to feel better in the legs (hamstring), albeit some lower left back discomfort. I have actually been able to improve my endurance and times at the track with only 2 runs per week in the past month, thanks to the cross training I guess...no big rush yet as the Tokyo Marathon in February will probably be a 3:40 to 4 hour jog for me, than the half-ironman in Hainan, China in April, than the climax of the year, the July Zurich, Suisse ironman. Bring it on, 2008!

Ohtawara 2007, half marathon and pure fun

2007-11-25T03:28:00.001-08:00

Needless to say, a great time was had by all at our annual Nanban getaway in Tochigi ken, Ohtawara, near the famous Utsunomiya gyoza (not to be confused with Odawara, gateway to Hakone resort). This was my 4th trip back to the local 42k/10k race, but first time running the unofficial half marathon, which was quite pleasant. I think this race and trip gets funner and funner every year. I had a nice comfortable run of 1:35, which suited me fine since my goal was to get a decent training run under 1:40. I also paced Colin with Phil for the first 10k, and we chatted casually about the fortuitous sunny weather and memories of prior races. The race was a tale of 2 conditions, however, from sunny and pleasantly warm on the first 10k to windy and cold over the last 7-8k. I lost Colin and Phil, who were chasing Paddy, over the windy back course, but caught up to them at 20K. I was indeed happy to pull over at 21k and felt guilty/sorry for the guys that did the full marathon in that tough wind. The fact that several nanbanners ran PBs and placed in both races is a tribute to the depth of our squad. My 5k splits were:

22:27

22:17

22:51

23:32

1.1k: 4:45

21.1k: 1:35:55

Other funny tidbits:

-I wore no number and was not kicked off the course.

-There were 2 minor accidents/injuries incurred after the race. Gareth slipped on the floor of the onsen changing room (after a few drinks), and sprawled out naked on the wet floor like a helpless crab, a funny image. Luckily he was not injured and was able to continue partying into the wee hours. Apparently Yuka also slipped and fell in the women's onsen bath, and bruised her torso. She was also able to complete her drinking regime after the mishap.

-I managed to coerce several nanbanners to engage in group massage sessions at the 2jikai party, which featured Chika standing on top of sore marathoners' backs and legs (called level 1). Level 2 was Yuka/Rie. I hope this trend continues in future.

The ryokan was excellent; many thanks to Chiba san. It was slightly further away from Ohtawara than usual, but we did get to view the second longest suspension bridge in Japan on the way up there. It was a nice secluded spot and the snow on the ground created wintery fuzzy feelings, which were enhanced by the evenings' bubbly intoxicants, oishii cuisine, and steamy onsen. The onsen/rotemburo was perfect, 30 seconds from the rooms, and the decent meal featured free karaoke which we took full advantage of, much to the dismay of the neighboring tribes. The washoku meals were quite good, and they even served natto in the morning. It doesn't get better than this!

belated birthday antics

2007-10-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

It started innocently enough in the heart of New Zealand, Roppongi. Notice how sedate and relaxed the nanbanners are....

W ait, a push-up counter or some other evil thingie...

No words...

The day after. Nanban brunch post-Yamanote run (20K). A good soreness and ready for another siesta...

Switzerland, Scotland, France, Spain

2007-10-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

Zurich

Edinbourgh

Bordeaux

Spanish Pyrenees Town

Cousins in Bordeaux

2007-10-13T15:15:00.001-07:00

Notice the rugby ball

Okinawan Roadkill!

2007-04-18T03:15:00.000-07:00

Ishigakijima, the georgeous resort island south of Okinawa's island chains, was the backdrop for an olympic distance triathlon last weekend. This was mainly a tune-up race for the upcoming ironman in June, but I had plenty of concerns going in to the race: a hamstring injury from Tokyo marathon had prevented any serious runs for the past 2 months, complicated by an achy knee on last week's bike ride. My swim was the only area I had confidence I could go 100%.

Swim 1.5K: Although a fast start with 2 or 3 porpoise tactics, the first 300 meters were unusually chaotic and clogged, owing to a lack of open water space. I couldn't get a rhythm for the first 5 minutes as I kept bumping into pink, blue, and silver caps. We pink caps were the last wave of swimmers with a 3 minute delay. The course was an interesting design, out and back twice, or 750 meters X 2 with a 30 second jog in between. The course was in a protected harbor, so no waves, but the narrowness made it difficult to get any private space, not dissimilar to commuting to work in Tokyo, less the kicks to the forehead and bodyblows...I made it to the turn in 14 minutes, jogged to the start, and did another lap in about 14 minutes for a 28:11 total swim. This was my PB for a swim, my previous best at about 32 minutes. Although not rocket speed, I was happy to improve my stroke and I credit the pool drills with our sensei Greg.

Bike 40K: This proved to be the most treacherous part of the race. The light drizzle turned into rain as I made the transition on to the bike, an ominous sign. This was my first race with my blue thunder cervelo carbon tri bike aka Hillary Swank. As we headed out of town up the east coast, Hillary and I whizzed by dozens of bikers as if they were standing still. At 5K, a nearly distastrous event...I was behind 2 guys trying to find a space to pass on the narrow 2 lane road. Up ahead, a truck appeared. For some reason that I will never know, the guy on the left decided that he wanted to move to his right and cut off his buddy. The guy on the right had nowhere to go. It was either take a nasty crash into his biker friend, or smash into a truck. He chose the nasty crash into the biker. They both went down instantly. I was about 5 meters behind and had nowhere to go as I was traveling at a 40 KPH clip. The only path was straight thru the wreck....So I proceeded over the roadkill...I ran over a leg, an arm and a bike. Just before I went thru, Hillary's short happy life flashed before me, "I am going to crash", I thought....but by some miracle, I maintained balance over the wreckage....I could not believe it...the roadkill and my own brakes had slowed me down significantly, and now 5 bikers whizzed by me. I accelerated to catch up, thrilled to be still in the race....

The rest of the bike was tough and wet. My right knee flared up again from 5K-30K, and the hills were challenging. I didn't feel comfortable pedaling hard down the hills due to the wet roads. I did continue to pass bikers throughout the leg and finished in about 1:11:00 (officially 1:13:48 including a 3 minute transition).

Run 10K: I was happy to dismount Hillary, although the sore knee discouraged me at the beginning of the run. I had no stamina as well. Fortunately, the knee held up and I cruised thru the run at a tortoises' pace. My time of 48:56 was my slowest ever for this distance triathlon, well under the low 40's that I usually run in triathlons.

My total time was 2:30:55 (54th place out of 600 men) Swim 28:11 (120) Bike 1:13:48 (50) Run 48:56 (80)...although my bike was most competitive, I was more satisfied with the swim. I never really felt comfortable on Hillary, but I suppose this comfort will come in future races. The bike was actually 1 minute slower than my PB of 1:10:38 in Oshima last year on my old road bike, but we estimated that this course was 5-7 minutes harder than Oshima, espescially in the rain.

Many thanks to Keren Miers, our triathlon spiritual leader, who had a decent race and actually placed 2nd in his age group with a sparkling 2:24 time despite the fact that he did not taper at all! Arigatou Kamu chan for the support and great action shots.

Tokyo Marathon: It's not about the rain...

2007-02-19T03:58:00.000-08:00

This was a battle between man, pain, and rain.

Motozo prevailed with a 1 minute personal best (PB) at the first annual Tokyo marathon.

Preparation was key...lots of pasta meals to the point of overload..nearly every meal was rice or pasta the final week...no alcohol for the last week and no caffeine for the last 4 days. A nice sleep-in on Saturday morning and off to bed again at 9 PM on Saturday before the race. The taper was enjoyable and my legs healed up nicely following months of pavement pounding. After a peak of 108K 3 weeks prior to the race, I reduced drastically to 64K 2 weeks before and 56K the final week with mainly marathon pace 5K and 10K runs to maintain fitness levels.

The race was a less than auspicious start. I groaned when I heard the rain sputtering on my veranda at 6AM. The subway ride on the Oedo line to Shinjuku Tochomae was a flurry of soggy shoes and umbrellas. At Tocho, I bumped into Shiba san, Robin, and a few others but we never made it to the outdoor meeting place due to the chaos and rain. Instead, the hour before the start was another flurry of bathroom line waiting, coffee sipping, power bar scoffing, and corral crawling. I struggled to get in my D corral without getting wet or trampled. At one point I was walking on the 1 meter divider with an umbrella before a volunteer shot me down. With 5 minutes to go to the start, I was in position at the front of corral D with relatively dry shoes.

Start: Mayor Ishihara pulled the trigger, the white flowers sprayed through the air, and we were off...sort of. They told us not to run after the start gun went off! That was a first. So, after a minute and a half of walking, I trunged through the start line into the streets of Shinjuku...After, a toilet break at 2K, I got into a semi-groove going down those hills in Shinjuku. At this point I was still wearing 3 shirts and a poncho, which made me feel heavy and uncomfortable, but I figured I would take off 2 layers later....

5K: The first 5K was 23:53, which was virtually on plan as I had factored in a 2 minute delay at the start (from the start line). I bumped into several nanbanners and we chatted about the weather. Keren, Rie, and Anthony were both cool and collected. Paul Jones, and old friend in from California, was moving at a nice clip, so Anthony and I ran with him at a 4:20 pace for a few K, caught up to Colin, and pondered our race strategies...this was the fastest split of the day at 21:31...

10K: I went through the 10K point next to the palace and looked for Kanako, who I suspected was armed with gels and energy drinks. At the turn at Hibiya, I heard "Debiddo!", and there she stood, to my left, waiting patiently...I immediately stripped off my sopping extra cotton shirt and poncho, got a jel from Kanako, and was off to Shinagawa...

15K: The run down to Shinagawa was quite easy as I was warmed up, jelled up, and a few pounds lighter. I ran with Colin for a about 1K before as we approached the lead group heading back up towards Hibiya. As I approached the turnaround at Shinagawa, I scanned the crowd and spotted Greg and Steve, than Jay and Martin moving all too easily, than Mika and Terry. I heard yells and screams of "Go Motozo", gambare, fighto, which was a nice little pick-me-up.

20K: I caught up to Terry, who slowed to eat a jel, but promised to catch me at the finish. Than I approached Mika and we stayed close together until Hibiya when Kanako again appeared, this time to my right side, bearing more energy gifts. It had started raining hard, so I grabbed the poncho back from Kanako, and refitted it over my head sans soaked shirt this time, which felt actually quite nice. Thank you Kamu! (chu to dakko shite!)

25K: Scoffing on a power gel, I surged forward having lost a valuable 45 seconds on the gel/poncho break and managed a 23:15 split, which was my slowest of the day excluding the slow start. I now felt really good, knowing that half the race was behind me. The bright atmosphere of Ginza (pictured here) also helped. It was like a white tunnel of love. Bands were playing, cheerleaders dancing, obasans and kids yelling the G word. I was fully fuelled and relatively dry, except for my feet.

30K: I kept pushing the pedal to the medal and felt that my goal time was actually realistic. I ran a 22:12 split, which was under my goal pace of 22:20. Running up towards the Asukusa turnaround at 28K, I again spied at the runners heading down on the right. I called out again to Brett, Greg, Adam, Jay and Martin (again running steady), and Steve before hitting the turn.

35K: The 30K point was where I crashed and burned in Ohtawara last November, but I felt better this time and pressed on at a blistering 4:22 pace, my 2nd fastest split of the day. I was now in the Motozo Zone. Noone was going to catch me, and I wasn't going to catch anyone. I thought of Lance Armstrong's book, "It's not about the Bike", and how pain was only temporarily, but the disappointment of quitting lasts forever. I wasn't going to quit unless my body caved in. It was about how much I wanted my PB...

40K: Well, my legs almost caved in at the 38K point. I felt like I was working 110%, but running 10% slower. My splits from 35K slowing started to deteriorate, from 4:25 to 4:29, than 4:31, 4:35. At 40K, I came in at 22:36, my 2nd slowest split (excluding the start). Those hills in Odaiba hurt me. My right hamstring and calf felt really tight. Several guys had pulled over at the middle of those hills. Still, I tried to push myself. I counted down....5K to go, now 4K, now 3K, just pretend you're in the palace on the 2nd half of a 5K run, coming into the home stretch...

Last 2.2K: At 40K, I was almost sure I would get under 3:09...it became a question of by how much..could I get 3:07 or even 3:06??? I groaned as another big hill came into view. It looked like a war zone ahead. Wounded soldiers pulled over left and right, stetching sore calves and hamstrings, the scanty crowd yelling "Lasto". I tried to sprint, but that only slightly increased my speed. At 1K to go, I had a full 5 minutes to get my goal. Those last steps felt an eternity. I checked my watch at about 500 meters, than again at 300. Where is the damn finish? Still not in my sights....finally, a turn and I can see the finish line, but it's so far! I try to sprint again and this time my legs respond...Welcome to the Big Site! Next stop, Iron Man Japan!!!

Splits:
5K: 23:53
10K: 21:31
15K: 21:45
20K: 21:48
25K: 23:15
30K: 22:12
35K: 21:52
40K: 22:36
2.2K: 9:53

Totals:
First 15K: 1:07:14
20K: 1:29:02
Half: 1:33:55
30K: 2:14:29
40K: 2:58:57
42.2K: 3:08:49 (previous best, 3:09:58, was Ohtawara Marathon, 2002)

Place:

802 place out of 25,000 runners, approx. top 3%

Pre-marathon running days

2007-02-04T03:47:00.000-08:00

Having reached the peak of training 3 weeks before the big Tokyo Marathon race, a mileage report...

The peak week: January 23-28, total=108K

Monday: off

Tuesday: 15K easy pace in palace
5K: 23:49
5K: 23:44
5K: 23:56

Wednesday: 18K hard workout at track thanks to Jay...
1.6K: 6:48
1.6K: 6:41
1.6K: 6:45
1.6K: 6:43
1.6K: 6:38
1.6K: 6:31
1.6K: 6:23
1.6K: 6:20
1.6K: 6:14
+3.6K jog

Thursday: 8K easy run palace
5K: 24:14
3K: 17:07

Friday: 17K Hard palace run with Steve, Mika
5K: 21:32
5K: 22:36
5K: 23:02
2K: 8:20

Saturday: 10K easy run at gym
4K: 23:30
5K: 27:13
2K: 13:31

Sunday: 38K long hard run in yoyogi park and palace with Juergen and Mika
2.5K: 13:16 Yoyogi park 8 laps
2.5K: 12:27
2.5K: 12:23
2.5K: 12:33
2.5K: 12:34
2.5K: 12:33
2.5K: 12:18
2.5K: 12:10
6K: 33:57 streets to palace
2.2K: 10:56
5K: 22:28 Palace
5K: 22:55

On to the taper!

64K for January 29 to February 4
15K: 1:09:04
15K: 1:04:25
8K: 47:13
26K: 2:20:37

Picture: Mt. Takao in December with lots of marathon nanbanners!

A rare mid-winter update

2007-01-14T02:04:00.000-08:00

I usually only update this blog after a race, but 2 events have prompted me to post my thoughts and pictures.

1. A brand new toy (triathlon bike).

2. An excellent week of marathon training, as the peak of February Tokyo marathon training cycle approaches.

By popular request (well, my brother, Mary, and a colleague at work), I've took some quick snappies from my living room of the new addition, where she sits still in pristine splendor. I should give her a name such as "Blue Thunder", "Blue Highway", "Fast Mother Fo", "Blew By You", "Carbon Homicide", Jane Seymour, Koyuki, Q-chan, Franka Potente, Hilary Swank, etc. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please let motozo@yahoo.com know!

The Tokyo marathon is quickly approaching. Showtime is February 18, which gives your humble narrator exactly 5 weeks left to train. Given the 10 day taper, there are only realistically 3 more weeks of hard training ahead. The past 2 weeks were good, fuelled by a long new year holiday and trip to Singapore to pick-up Hilary Swank. During my 1 week stay in Singapore, I got in no less than 4 runs in +30 C heat, plus a 70K bike ride on Blue Thunder. I think the hot runs and time off helped, because I upped my weekly mileage from 76K in late December to 81K last week and 93K this week without much problem. This past week was particularly satisfying. I don't usually post my workouts, but here goes:

January 8-14

Monday: off

Tuesday: 15K easy run in Palace at about 4:40/K pace.

Wednesday: Hard track workout at Oda field. First, a "warmup" with Carol and Jay of 4 X 1600: Splits were 6:35, 6:32, 6:33, 6:50. Than, Mika persuaded me to do a hard 10K pace run at 4:15/K pace. We were able to hold that pace, although it was tough. Akira and Masako stayed with me the whole way. Total of 18K of high quality running.

Thursday: off

Friday: Hard 15K pace run. 5K splits were 21:57, 21:52, 21:38 for an average of 4:21/K pace. Probably my best 15K training run in many, many moons...

Saturday: Easy 13K recovery run in Akasaka Gosho. 3.3K splits were 17:24, 17:28, 17:07, 17:27, for an average pace of 5:16 K/pace.

Sunday: Hard long run of 32K. Total time was 2:27:00 for a brisk 4:35/K pace (7:22/mile pace). The last 7K were particularly fast with Steve, as we cruised along at 4:20 pace for several K.

Total: 93K for the week (58 miles), with 3 relatively hard runs and 2 easy runs. I hope to log in over 100K at some point in the next few weeks, with at least 1 run of 35K. This should prepare my legs and mind somewhat for the "wall" at 30-42K. Today's long run felt good. I was tired after 32K, but felt I could hold the pace for another 5K or so.

Some other pics of interest over the past month:

Nanbanners countdown the new year at Motozo's, Dec 31, 2006: Nanban jin include Juergen, Keren, and Robin, all in the funny pointy hats. Editor's note: Motozo ran 25K virtually alone the next day on a vicious hangover (Stuart joined for the final 7K).

At the countdown, HG was in the haus! Yahooooo! MC commentary.

Gemba kara nama housou suru 現場から生放送する......3... 2... 1...pop goes the weasel! Happy new year...akebono omedeto gozaimasu, kotonishiki yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

New year's resolutions are to successfully drive Franka Potente thru to the finish of Japan Iron Man in June, 2007, run a PB in the Tokyo marathon, become the top-rated stock analyst in Japan, and last and least, to compose less samui oyaji gyagu.

Meanwhile, a defrost trip to SE Asia beckoned....

A Victorian-looking Singapore street in the old China Town, toured by fellow Binghamton Devil Lord Chris Fix.

And a short trip to Malaysia...Selamat Datang! (Welcome to Malaysia!) in Mersing, while waiting for the ferry to Tioman Isle, we tasted Malaysia sweet liquor from Brunei.

The beach at Salang on Tioman Isle, same as it ever was, serene and deep blue. The beach was a ghost town due to Monsoon season. We could not find a drop of sake in the entire town.

Our plane back to civilization... Plane capacity: 44, Crew: 3, Total passengers: 2 !!! I said TWO!Motozo is dead serious. More next month after the big Tokyo Marathon....sayonara

Ohtawara Marathon Memories...bittersweet

2006-11-25T02:23:00.000-08:00

Motozo's goal (and folly) was to run a solid yet easy 3:20ish tuneup marathon for the Tokyo International Marathon in February, but the race turned out to be a big and hairy challenge to break 3 and 1/2 hours. In retrospect the goal was unrealistic but a decent learning experience and a fantastic festival afterwards in the georgeous Tochigi automn setting.

It started innocently enough, but Motozo faded badly in the 2H of the marathon.

5K splits were:

22:43, 23:00, 23:48, 24:54, 24:11, 25:10, 26:09, 27:28, 11:31 (2.2K)

for a 3:28:58 race, about 20 minutes slower than my marathon PB! The first 20K went well at 1:34:26, which put me well under my goal of low 3:20s. At this point I felt semi-decent with little knee pain, but at about 30K I hit "the wall" while running with Paddy. We both slowed to a tortoise pace 26:09 5K at 30-35K, and tried to pump each other up with "Fighto" or "Last one across the finish is a rotten egg" or Keren's favorite, "you're a very attractive man, and don't think I haven't noticed". The last 7K was excrutiating, and I nearly threw in the towel (if it weren't for Paddy and Leng Leng (caught embarrasingly in this photo) from Singapore Singapore I would have walked those last few K). I saw my low 3:20s goal erased before my eyes but my stiff legs could not toil any faster than a pitiful jogger's pace. I knew I was in trouble when the 3:30 pacers passed me at 40K, but at 41K somehow I managed to pick up the pace and crossed the finish with over a minute to spare under 3:30.

The 2H clearly showed my lack of long run training.

Below is a handy list of excuses for my poor performance (feel free to incorporate them for any of your underperformances):

1. Lack of long runs: only 2 "long" runs of 25K in past 2 months (not including the 40K Yamanote run, which took over 4 hours). Note to myself; run more high quality runs...Mika, let's challenge in December/January!

2. Jet lag: returned from Hawaii less than 3 days before the race (5 hour time difference). Note to myself; don't go on an international trip before a big race!

3. Wind was a much heralded negative factor: several nanbanners ran slower than expected due to the "headwind". How this slowed people down, I am not exactly sure, since rationally, a headwind should become a tailwind on a circular course like Ohtawara.

4. Lack of overall mileage: only maxed out at 70K per week in September and October. Average was about 55-60K per week. Note to myself; run more!

5. Heavier training shoes: I wore my Kayanos to protect my sore runner's knee. Note to myself; use the light trainers for Tokyo, Motozo!

6. A gash on my left toe (surfing accident in Hawaii). This turned out to be a non-factor virtually, thanks to Mami's wrapping supplies and free advice from several nanbanners. Note to Motozo; don't go surfing, skiing, play rugby, party like a rock star, or engage in any other horseplay before the Tokyo marathon or Japan Ironman next year!

Congrats to those that ran PBs!! Chika, Rie, Mika (last week), Stuart, Paddy, and Majime Mike...did I leave anyone out? Both Rie and Chika passed me early in the 1H (quite damaging to my male ego, but the beer and onsen soothed my wounds), and they both slowed considerably in the 2H not dissimilar to my own splits. So perhaps the wind did play a role in their performances as well.

Some of the festivities and debauchery are depicted in the photos below. Notice Chika giving Stuart, Rie, and herself a warm round of applause (atatatatatakai hakushu) for their marathon PBs. Thanks to Gareth for organizing and skillful MC tasks. Respect! Motozo

Edogawa 10K

2006-10-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

25 Nambanners participated in Sunday's Edogawa 10k, carrying home eight awards including Brett's second consecutive overall first place trophy. Moreover a remarkable seven Nambanners achieved a Personal Best time despite warm temperatures and a course that while fast, is not necessarily the optimal PB course. Thanks to Shiba-san for organizing this wonderful event, and thanks for support of Taeko and Paul's wife Junko.

Motozo's time was a PB 39:41 !

I thought I was in big trouble right before the race -- the Tullys near my house was not open on Sunday morning at 7:30am. Thankfully I managed to find a combini less than 30-minutes before the gun went off and was able to consume a caffeinated beverage. It seemed like we had been talking about this race for months, and it was my first big 10k race in a long time, maybe over a year. There were no less than 6 of us who were going to shoot for a sub-40 race (Keren, Simon, Paddy, Adam, Anthony, Motozo), so I expected it to be fun and competitive...

When the gun went off most of my teammates around me (Keren, Adam, Stu, Paddy, Jun, Simon, Anthony) went out fast. All the excitement of the Edogawa start on the track with the band playing and the crowd cheering causes people to run the first 500-meters way too fast. I knew I should stay behind Bob, the savvy veteran of innumerable Edogawa campaigns, but soon lost him in the crowd. Instead, I ran with Keren and Simon from the get go at a blistering 3:48 first 1k, and just under 4 minute/K pace for the next 4k, which felt quite fine. The back half was tough as the heat began to take its toll, and we all slowed to 4:02 pace for 6-8k. At 9k, I felt more confident that I could get under 40 with still a 5 second cushion, and shifted gears once more. The last K was about 3:40 which gave me almost identical 5k splits of 19:50 or so.

Sado Island Astroman power activate!

2006-09-04T02:06:00.000-07:00

The "longest day of our lives" started with a quick dip in the Sea of Japan at 7AM. We were fresh, albeit sleepy, feeling the full benefits of 2 days of carbo and protein loading at the ryokan Yuukei Sado, which served up no less than 8 types of fish the previous 3 meals.
Here we are at the start. From left, Keren, who unfortunately, was unable to retain most of the delicious fish dishes. (But doesn't he look marvelous in the photo?)
Motozo, your humble narrator.
Adam York, who loves New York.
Jay, a serious runner who enjoys porpoising in his spare time.
After a few "tattemae" speeches from the locals, the gun sounded and we were off into the Sea of Japan (actual a warm 25 degree harbor in Sawada beach) at 7 AM sharp.

Swim: The swim began with the usual chaotic kicks, splashes, and other chicanery. We managed to get in at the near beach point, which was slightly closer to the 1st buoy. This allowed us to run and porpoise for the first 100 meters and get away from the pack. This worked well for Keren and Adam, but unfortunately for Jay and myself, the fast swimmers soon converged on us, which only delayed the inevitable kicking, sideswipping, biting, and other horseplay so typical of a triathlon start. At about 200 meters some 50 or so swimmers swamped us from left, right, and center. I got my goggles knocked off by inadvertant kick and feared a lost contact lens. (No photos available due to lack of underwater camers.) But alas, I could see that my 700 meter time was 14 minutes, so right on time and full vision intact......I settled down after that and got into my groove, which is mostly breaststroke with an occasional flurry of free style strokes. I have to admit that although my swim was slightly faster than previous races, I felt uncomfortable in the wetsuit and couldn't wait to get back to the beach. At the 1200 meter point, we turned for a last time and headed back to shore. At about 26 minutes I had slowed down a bit, but was still under my goal of 45 minute pace. The last 800 meters was tough. The view of the shore was deceptively clear, and I kept thinking that I was closer than I actually was. The water was also pristine. At about 200 meters out, I could see the bottom and tried to touch, but the depth was actually well above my head, and I sank awkwardly below the surface. I tried again at about 100 meters and finally was able to porpoise and stagger on to the beach in 42 minutes. A quick peek around but no sign of the others......

Bike: The transition (depicted in this photo) went fine and I was soon cranking away on my bike, loaded with rocket fuel (gels mixed with sports drink), power bars, advil, etc. I did see Jay right at the start, but was eager to accelerate, so I didn't stop to chat. I figured I would see Jay later during the run.....It felt great to get on the bike saddle again. The weather was getting hotter, but I cruised at about 35-39 KPH for the first 20K over relatively flat terrain. I passed dozens of bikers before catching up to a faster pack on the other side of the island. As I attempted to gain on the pack, I heard a soft voice calling "David, David" from behind. What? nan desu ka? It can't be Keran or Adam, and I didn't think Jay was that close. But it was Murray, a friend from Westy Bike Club, on his brand new $7,000 bike, with a head of steam. I took some rocket fuel and tried stay with Murray. In this bike photo, we are climbing one of several hills at around 30-50K on other side of Sado, having gained and past some of the riders in the big pack. At this point, I made one of the few regrettable moves of the day by attemping to eat a power bar while riding. How not to eat a power bar during a race! I could write a book...In my bento box sat 2 power bars poised for consumption, which I had cleverly chopped up the night before (or so I thought). The dilemma was there was no way to get the bars out of the ziploc bag without crashing. I couldn't get out the bars from the bag with one hand, and my humble Giant bike was too unstable to risk riding no hands. So finally I tried to bite thru the plastic bag to no avail. Not only did I fail to get any nourishment, but I lost Murray and most of the riders around. I put the bars back in the bento box, and settled for some rocket fuel again. The rest of the ride was fun and exciting. After the power bar comedy of errors, I settled down and increased my speed. I was on a good pace, well under my 3 1/2 hour goal for 105K, which was about 32-34KPH. It was heating up to over 30 degrees C, but the wind and tunnels cooled us down somewhat. At about 50K, I bumped into Keren. He was having a bad hair day and normally would have been further ahead. We road together for a few minutes. Then I hit "Heartbreak Hill" at 80K. Most had billed it as a nasty climb, while Keren had toned it down to a small anthill. It turned out to be relatively tough. The actual slope wasn't too bad, but the distance was. About 3-4K of solid climbing, than a short downhill, than a few more Ks of uphill. It didn't help that this was the hottest part of the day. I was in the lowest gear under 10KPH for a good 2K at one point....
Back on the Sawada side of the island we climbed up a large cliff, anc coasted down into a gorgeous coastline view of Sawada and adjoining areas for the final 15K. At 1 point my bike was approaching 60KPH and I felt euphoria and terror equally as I leaned into the turns like a motorcycle racer would. Similar to the end of the swim, I was happy to get off the bike. Although it had been a joyful ride, my ass was killing me!

Run: The run was by far the most exciting and emotional part of the race, as we all converged on that 20K course thru the rice fields of Sawada. I caught a glimpse of Adam on the run as I was pulling into the bike area, than saw Keren on his bike as I got into the first 2K of the run. My legs felt stiff, particularly the inner thighs, but I was more concerned about my knee. Thankfully, there was no usual twinge of discomfort on my left knee, so I continued to rumble on at a 5 minute pace. The day had turned out to be a scorcher and we were heading into the unshaded rice fields, but I kept telling myself to simply get thru the first 5K, than to the turnaround at 10K, than another 5K, than the home stretch. It worked rather well. At 3-4K, after a toilet and stretch break, I got into a groove and the cramps went away from inner thighs. I was extremely overheated, but I guess those hot runs in the palace twice a week this summer accustomed my body to the heat (thank you Jayne!). I was also very keen to see where Adam and Jay were, and I got a shock at the 10K turnaround. First shock: Adam, who I figured was 2K ahead of me, was only 200 meters in front of me! Second shock: Jay, the running demigod, was a mere 300 meters behind me. At 11K I caught up to Adam, who appeared to be cramping up in the heat. We chatted about, you guessed it, the freaking hot weather. Adam said, “you get going” (to maintain my lead on Jay). I predicted Jay would pass me in 2-3K, although I kept a glimmer of hope that I could outlast him. At 15K, I was still in the lead and couldn’t believe that Jay was still behind me. My 10-15K split was about 24 minutes, so a little faster than the 51 minute first 10K. Still, I didn’t think it was fast enough to hold him off….

At 17K, I heard those familiar steps. Deju vu all over again (at Saipan 1 year ago, Jay had run me down during the 15K run of the Tagaman Triathalon in blistering heat as well. I groaned but had to pat him on the back, “What took you so long?” I asked sarcastically. Jay grunted and we exchanged pleasantries for a few moments. Than he was a few meters ahead, than 10, 20, 30….
At about 18K, Jay was 100 meters ahead, but didn’t appear to be gaining any more ground. It occurred to me that I should try to gather up my Astroman powers and try to chase him down, but I didn’t have even gas left in the tank. I pondered….

Had I been able to get open the bag of powerbars?
Had I not braked so hard on those last bike hills?
Had I not run the 20K at Fuji Yoshida?
Had I only practiced my porpoising technique more??!!

So it goes. The finish was bittersweet. I completely shattered my goal time of 6 hours, which I had deemed as an aggressive goal, so I was extremely satisfied with that result. Getting passed by Jay was not fun, but I’ll take as a blessing and use it as motivation to train harder next time!

My stats were:

Swim 2K: 42:15 (216th place out of 628 triathletes)

Bike 105K: 3:21:23 (75th)

Run 20K: 1:37:07 (71st)

Total 5:40:45 (70th overall out of 628 triathletes)

64th out of 522 men14th out of 83 in my age group

Many thanks to Keren for setting up the whole joy ride, and Jay, Adam, Yoshida san for just being there! I’d also like to thank the nanbanners who have encouraged me to run, bike, and swim hard over the past months. This race was a truly gratifying experience and the course was simply breathtaking. I recommend it to any triathletes out there. Now a few days later as the stiffness in my legs resides, I feel a rekindled desire to run faster than ever before this fall and swim, bike, and run to new goals next year. For now, I’ll fold up the bike and gear up for the fall run season…. One last thingie….those who had put up with my moaning and groaning over runner’s knee and general pre-race stress, I salute you. Respect!

Fuji Yoshida results

2006-09-04T01:27:00.000-07:00

Conditions were fortuitous and a soft rain pleasantly cooled us down at the start, but the course itself was tough, with a big uphill thru the woods for the first 2-3 K, followed by a massive 4-5K downhill that did no justice to my shins. Carol and I passed each other several times, encouraging each other thru the undulations and fluctuations. At 14K, an old runner's knee injury flared up, and I had to stop for a minute to stretch it, which blew my 2nd half time. I averaged about 4:20 pace thru 10K, but slowed after 12K to over 5 minute pace, and finished the 2H with about 4:47 pace. Granted there was another heartbreak hill the last 3K, which thru my 2H split more out of whack. Came in at:

10K: 43:34
10K: 47:48
20K: 1:31:22

Not an ultra fast time, but given the course and taper for ironman next Sunday, I'm fairly happy with the result. The weekend on Lake Kawaguchi was excellent, great BBQ, fire festival, oyaji gyagus, lots of quality hanging time with everyone, etc. Thanks to Yuka for organizing and Colin for driving, and Carol for pushing me up those hills.

Fuji Yoshida pre-race

2006-09-04T01:21:00.000-07:00

Prior to start of 20k in Fuji Yoshida...

Oshima Triathlon

2006-06-11T02:57:00.000-07:00

We bodysurfed, we biked, and as Nanbanners, we ran past most of the triathletes in the field...Read our stories below on the Oshima Triathlon, the largest of the 7 Izu islands.
Final times were:

Mika: 2:29 Stuart: 2:12 Akira: 2:18 David: 2:11

See also our in-house IT specialist post of the action photos of the race

at:http://www.stuartmcintosh.com/blogs/Oshima2006.php----------------------------------------------------------------
Mika Tokairin
overall place: 120thoverall time: 02:29:15women: 7thswim: 0:22:25 188thbike: 1:20:55 133th (overall 151st)run: 0:45:55 70thIt was soooooo much fun! I really enjoyed this pack of assorted aerobic sports. The swim part was not easy even it was cut in half because the sea was so rough. While I was waiting at the starting area watching the big waves that kept coming, I almost wanted to run away. I am so glad that I didn't die, really. The bike part was super enjoyable! Just enjoyed hills and curves so much. The 10k run part was totally different experience, especially at the beginning, my legs were like puppet's, so awkward. But gradually I started to enjoy catching people in front of me. I passed 22 people and finished within my target time range. At last, I would like to thank Taeko- san, Mami-chan, Kanako-chan, David, Gary, Akira-kun and Stuart for sharing this great race experience with me.
Arigato! Yoroshiku, Mika

Stuart:It was a pity they shortened the swim - it wasn't as bad as last year once you got past the bigwaves at the start.Felt good during the race, even though I did Ironman Japan only two weeks ago. Improved both mycycle and run times by several minutes each compared with last year! 48th place overall, totaltime 2:12:06 Swim 17:27 Bike 1:12:46 Run 41:53Really appreciated the Namban cheering section - thanks guys!-Stuart.

Akira: Akira Hoyanagioverall place: 79thoverall time: 02:18:43swim: 0:19:26 130thbike: 1:13:13 75th (overall 85th)run: 0:46:04 74thIn this race, I was targetting only the finish. Because I wasn't confident in myself due to retiring Ironman Japan two weeks before. So I am satisfied with my result basically, but I would be happier if my result this year was better than that last year ! Incidentally, I appreciate Nambanners' cheering me up in the race and giving me lots of delightful memories. Cheers, Akira

David Motozo: Ooohhh shima Whadda big feeling!Other than the sudden change in swim course, this was the most gratifying tri for me in my shortand humble triathlete life. The swim was tough over large swells for the first 100 meters, butbike and run showed good improvement. I finished in the middle of the pack for the swim, about75th percentile on the bike, and 86th percentile on the run. 2:11:15 time was 43rd overall out of 206 men. (winning time was 1:53)Swim was 101st place, 18:17Bike was 51st place, 1:10:38 Run was 28th place, 42:20Swim: I think we were all a bit more nervous than usual before the swim. The weather was partlysunny, but the ocean was kicking up large swells and the breakers on the beach were a bitintimidating. Indeed, after the first few meters, I could see 20-30 little men in green capsgetting swamped. It seemed like they stopped swimming at a few points just to steady themselvesover the tsunamis.They shortened the course from 1.5k to about 0.9k or so (judging from the fasterswim times of 13-14 minutes, which are usually around 20 minutes for a 1.5k swim). Anyway, it wasfun to ride the waves into the finish (but a less than auspicious start) and get off the beachwithout too much trouble..Bike: Really good ride. I pushed it a lot harder this time and improved from last race by about 8minutes. I passed about 40 riders and tried to keep the speed above 35KPH as much as possible.Great to have the cheering nanban section of Kanako, Mami, Gary, Taeko near the start. Maido domo! Run: As usual, the legs were stiff for the first 1-2k, but quickly found the groove and ran a21:17 first 5k. At the turnaround, I got a second wind and picked it up slig
htly, brought it homein 21:03. Nice to have that fantastic view of the ocean and red rocks on the 5k run back to base.Total of 42:20 for run was a 1 1/2 minute improvement over last race. Overall, a great day and satisfying result of 2:11. My last Olympic distance was 2:33, so addingon the extra 600 meter swim would normalize my time to about 2:25. I think we all could have swamfaster if the ocean had been calmer, so an encouraging sign for future ironman races. My strategyto go hard on the bike worked. The key point being that a 100% effort on the bike won't inhibityour run performance too much, at least at the olympic distance level.Thanks again to Kanako (Kamu!), Mami, Gary, Taeko for riding the jet foil all the way down tosupport us. Ouen shite kurete arigatou! Good stuff from ironmen Stuart and Akira to show up andcompete at a high level a mere 2 weeks after the Japan ironman. And congrats to Mika on finishingher first triathalon and not drowning!

-David Motozo

Total: 2:11:16

Previous best was 2:32 for olympic distance, which is about another 15 minutes of swim...