naruhodo nariki bike mountain race

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...