Oxfam trailwalker 100k hike: Legs like dogmeat

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!