The real challenge now is just getting to the ironman starting line.
I need to get my bike in a box and onto the plane.
I need to go through my huge checklist and make sure I do not forget anything. This is the part of the triathlon that makes just going to a running race seem so easy and pleasant.
I couldn't afford the direct flight to Auckland - it is far to expensive for a person on my limited income. I am travelling on a 70,000-yen Thai Airways flight which connects through Bangkok. At least I will get some Star Alliance award miles.
Gary Eng, a native Kiwi, who spends half his time in New Zealand, will pick me up at the Auckland Airport, and we will go directly to the race registration, bike check and carbo dinner. Thank goodness for Gary. I can't exaggerate how important Gary's generosity and expertise is to me right now.
Gary reminds me to drink lots of non-caffeinated, non-alcoholic liquid on the flight down. I am debating whether to take a sleeping pill to knock me out and increase my chances of getting precious sleep on the flight. Sleep in the nights leading up to the ironman is a big concern of mine right now. I have already written off getting much sleep on the night before the ironman. So I really hope to get enough rest Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. Unfortunately I am off to a bad start because I needed to prepare for a work-related presentation last night (Monday). My original plan was to arrive in Lake Taupo on Wednesday morning, but work pushed it back a day and has caused this tight schedule. Oh well, if I was in New Zealand I would just be sitting around feeling nervous.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Top 10 side benefits from entering ironman
There is nothing like the prospect of swimming, biking, and running some 226 kilometers to inspire me to get off my butt and accomplish a variety of positive changes I had previously put off. Here are a few of the unanticipated residual benefits (so far) from entering the triathlon --
1. Improved Diet - My protein intake is way up from all the fish I have been eating. My potassium intake is way, way, way up from the extraordinary number of bananas I consume. Also I am getting lots of good cholesterol from eating so many avocados.
2. Visiting New Zealand - I certainly was impressed by the stunning scenery in the Lord of the Rings movies and have met so many great Kiwis over the years, but lets face it - there was no way I would have made the trip all the way to Auckland if I did not have the excuse of the triathlon.
3. Overcoming Caffeine Addiction - I went the whole day yesterday without a cup of coffee. A month ago I couldn't have made it until noon without coffee. After only a few hours without caffeine in the morning or afternoon and I would suffered a terrible headache.
4. New bike - I finally got around to buying a new bike. For me the sport is definitely "not about the bike" - and my new bike is not particularly special. Nonetheless I had zero confidence in the bike I had been using and now, thanks in part to the new bike, I am a bit more motivated to ride.
5. Discovering anti-fog drops for my swim goggles - Why on earth did I not make the effort to use this product before? Nothing like being able to actually see the buoys and see the other people in the pool.
6. Swimming at Lunch - Who knew what a pleasant little escape an hour of swimming could be right in the middle of the workday?
7. Learning to use aero bars - Long ago I was told I could realize a 10% faster bike time by using aero bars. But being hunched over those bars looked terribly uncomfortable and unappealing. Again it took the impetus of the ironman to force me to overcome the initial pain in my neck and butt, not to mention the fear of toppling over
8. Writing a blog - Now I am of the opinion that preparing for an Olympic distance triathlon justifies creating a blog. Preparing for a 10k justifies a blog. Hell, getting out and jogging around the block a few times a week is cause enough. But in my case it took the whole ironman complexity and challenge to persuade me to contact Mika and Steve and learn how easy it is to join the blogosphere.
9. Doing yoga - And I resolve to continue these flexibility and core strength exercises from now forward.
10. Recognizing the support of my friends - Well, I suppose I had a good sense for this already, but still it is remarkably gratifying to see my teammates rally to encourage and support me.
1. Improved Diet - My protein intake is way up from all the fish I have been eating. My potassium intake is way, way, way up from the extraordinary number of bananas I consume. Also I am getting lots of good cholesterol from eating so many avocados.
2. Visiting New Zealand - I certainly was impressed by the stunning scenery in the Lord of the Rings movies and have met so many great Kiwis over the years, but lets face it - there was no way I would have made the trip all the way to Auckland if I did not have the excuse of the triathlon.
3. Overcoming Caffeine Addiction - I went the whole day yesterday without a cup of coffee. A month ago I couldn't have made it until noon without coffee. After only a few hours without caffeine in the morning or afternoon and I would suffered a terrible headache.
4. New bike - I finally got around to buying a new bike. For me the sport is definitely "not about the bike" - and my new bike is not particularly special. Nonetheless I had zero confidence in the bike I had been using and now, thanks in part to the new bike, I am a bit more motivated to ride.
5. Discovering anti-fog drops for my swim goggles - Why on earth did I not make the effort to use this product before? Nothing like being able to actually see the buoys and see the other people in the pool.
6. Swimming at Lunch - Who knew what a pleasant little escape an hour of swimming could be right in the middle of the workday?
7. Learning to use aero bars - Long ago I was told I could realize a 10% faster bike time by using aero bars. But being hunched over those bars looked terribly uncomfortable and unappealing. Again it took the impetus of the ironman to force me to overcome the initial pain in my neck and butt, not to mention the fear of toppling over
8. Writing a blog - Now I am of the opinion that preparing for an Olympic distance triathlon justifies creating a blog. Preparing for a 10k justifies a blog. Hell, getting out and jogging around the block a few times a week is cause enough. But in my case it took the whole ironman complexity and challenge to persuade me to contact Mika and Steve and learn how easy it is to join the blogosphere.
9. Doing yoga - And I resolve to continue these flexibility and core strength exercises from now forward.
10. Recognizing the support of my friends - Well, I suppose I had a good sense for this already, but still it is remarkably gratifying to see my teammates rally to encourage and support me.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Triathlon taper
Tapering means reducing training volume prior to a goal race in order to facilitate total and complete recovery
1. Taper length
According to Mark Allen, the 6-time Ironman world champion, the perfect length of an ironman taper is 4 full weeks leading up to the event. So five weeks before ironman you have your peak training week and each week thereafter you reduce training volume by 20-30%.
Unfortunately for me, my whole triathlon training program is only 13-weeks, so my taper is only two weeks - well, actually 13 days because the Ome Marathon was Sunday and NZ is a week from Saturday. I have averaged 14-hours of training per week prior to my taper, and this week I will drop to about 7.5 hours (including Ome).
2. Taper workout intensity
Apparently there is some controversy on this matter, but the consensus is that while decreasing volume one should maintain intensity. On this front I am doing OK. Tuesday I did a hard 45-minute spin class session. Nothing like 1970s music (Journey, Queen..) to motivate me to pedal like crazy. Then last night I joined Namban Rengo in Yoyogi Park for a 6 x 1000 meter workout.
3. Rest and recovery during taper
The experts all emphatically agree that you should get as much rest as possible during the taper. Rest doesn't mean "not training". Rest means doing as little physical activity as possible. Lots of naps. Avoid going to the office. Ideally you would just lie around on soft cushions and have people drop food into your mouth.
I am not fully complying with this point either. I generally have been leading a slacker lifestyle for quite some time now, but this week is busier than average at work, as I need to do a presentation next week. Meanwhile I am dealing with the logistics of the trip (not to mention the long travel itself next week).
On this last point I have been harassing my teammates (Gareth and Mika) to cut back on their frenetic lifestyles leading up their goal races, but, alas, they seem addicted to the glamour and perks of their prestigious busy jobs and social lives.
Steve Lacey commented to me after Sunday's race that he had failed to discern a clear pattern of benefit from tapering. I had to agree - some of my best performances have come right after grueling workouts, or when I have been coming off illness or business trips and am seemingly overly rested. Moreover, last year several races where I attempted to taper (TELL, Obuse), I found myself feeling flat, and my times were slow.
That said, tapering seems intuitively correct, and I will try to avoid stress as much as possible this week.
1. Taper length
According to Mark Allen, the 6-time Ironman world champion, the perfect length of an ironman taper is 4 full weeks leading up to the event. So five weeks before ironman you have your peak training week and each week thereafter you reduce training volume by 20-30%.
Unfortunately for me, my whole triathlon training program is only 13-weeks, so my taper is only two weeks - well, actually 13 days because the Ome Marathon was Sunday and NZ is a week from Saturday. I have averaged 14-hours of training per week prior to my taper, and this week I will drop to about 7.5 hours (including Ome).
2. Taper workout intensity
Apparently there is some controversy on this matter, but the consensus is that while decreasing volume one should maintain intensity. On this front I am doing OK. Tuesday I did a hard 45-minute spin class session. Nothing like 1970s music (Journey, Queen..) to motivate me to pedal like crazy. Then last night I joined Namban Rengo in Yoyogi Park for a 6 x 1000 meter workout.
3. Rest and recovery during taper
The experts all emphatically agree that you should get as much rest as possible during the taper. Rest doesn't mean "not training". Rest means doing as little physical activity as possible. Lots of naps. Avoid going to the office. Ideally you would just lie around on soft cushions and have people drop food into your mouth.
I am not fully complying with this point either. I generally have been leading a slacker lifestyle for quite some time now, but this week is busier than average at work, as I need to do a presentation next week. Meanwhile I am dealing with the logistics of the trip (not to mention the long travel itself next week).
On this last point I have been harassing my teammates (Gareth and Mika) to cut back on their frenetic lifestyles leading up their goal races, but, alas, they seem addicted to the glamour and perks of their prestigious busy jobs and social lives.
Steve Lacey commented to me after Sunday's race that he had failed to discern a clear pattern of benefit from tapering. I had to agree - some of my best performances have come right after grueling workouts, or when I have been coming off illness or business trips and am seemingly overly rested. Moreover, last year several races where I attempted to taper (TELL, Obuse), I found myself feeling flat, and my times were slow.
That said, tapering seems intuitively correct, and I will try to avoid stress as much as possible this week.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Wildflower
I feel like a complete novice triathlete as the ironman approaches. Aero bars, deepwater starts, Co2 air, special needs bags, draft zones -- these are all brand new to me.
As much of a newbie as I am, I am not completely unfamiliar with triathlons -- in May 2002 I completed the Wildlflower Half-Ironman in central California.
My results at Wildflower --
Swim - 47:29
T1 - 5:00
Bike - 3:24:00
T2 - 3:22
Run - 1:54:57
Total - 6:14:48
This time from Wildflower would seemingly convert into roughly a 14:00 full ironman.
Back in 2002 I was living in Burlingame California near San Francisco where it is much easier to train for a triathlon than in Tokyo. However back then I was definitely a novice triathlete and my primary triathlon objective could be summed up simply as -- "not drowning".
I did not have a blog for Wildflower, and I cannot precisely recall the training work I did in preparation. I remember though that my bicycle training for Wildflower was insufficient. Because of this, much of my energy for New Zealand these past two months has been centered around increasing my cycling training. My Wildflower bicycle time of 3:24 is not so terrible itself. Rather it is the fact that the bicycle ride left me so drained that I ran a 1:54:57 half-marathon (versus the 1:20 half-marathon I might have managed in a half-marathon alone).
When I say I was "so drained" during the run I am not exaggerating. Like in every triathlon, my legs felt heavy and sluggish after I first got off the bike. But rather than loosen up after a few kilometers I found myself feeling worse and worse. Soon every step was misery and my run form could best be described as a "survival shuffle".
Wildflower is famous for its running aid station staffed by naked college girls. But I was in so much pain that I didn't really even care about admiring the naked college girls. I was just happy to be handed some sports drink. Usually I find some energy at the end of a race when I see the finish banner, but at Wildflower I just shuffled across the finish line and collapsed in the first aid station.
I am a bit more confident going into New Zealand than Wildflower. Since Wildflower and since moving to Japan I have done four Olympic distance triathlons.
My weight today is still 60kg, but I am eating more, and feel OK after getting 10 hours of sleep last night. I recovered suprisingly quickly from the 33k run I did in Ome on Sunday.
As much of a newbie as I am, I am not completely unfamiliar with triathlons -- in May 2002 I completed the Wildlflower Half-Ironman in central California.
My results at Wildflower --
Swim - 47:29
T1 - 5:00
Bike - 3:24:00
T2 - 3:22
Run - 1:54:57
Total - 6:14:48
This time from Wildflower would seemingly convert into roughly a 14:00 full ironman.
Back in 2002 I was living in Burlingame California near San Francisco where it is much easier to train for a triathlon than in Tokyo. However back then I was definitely a novice triathlete and my primary triathlon objective could be summed up simply as -- "not drowning".
I did not have a blog for Wildflower, and I cannot precisely recall the training work I did in preparation. I remember though that my bicycle training for Wildflower was insufficient. Because of this, much of my energy for New Zealand these past two months has been centered around increasing my cycling training. My Wildflower bicycle time of 3:24 is not so terrible itself. Rather it is the fact that the bicycle ride left me so drained that I ran a 1:54:57 half-marathon (versus the 1:20 half-marathon I might have managed in a half-marathon alone).
When I say I was "so drained" during the run I am not exaggerating. Like in every triathlon, my legs felt heavy and sluggish after I first got off the bike. But rather than loosen up after a few kilometers I found myself feeling worse and worse. Soon every step was misery and my run form could best be described as a "survival shuffle".
Wildflower is famous for its running aid station staffed by naked college girls. But I was in so much pain that I didn't really even care about admiring the naked college girls. I was just happy to be handed some sports drink. Usually I find some energy at the end of a race when I see the finish banner, but at Wildflower I just shuffled across the finish line and collapsed in the first aid station.
I am a bit more confident going into New Zealand than Wildflower. Since Wildflower and since moving to Japan I have done four Olympic distance triathlons.
My weight today is still 60kg, but I am eating more, and feel OK after getting 10 hours of sleep last night. I recovered suprisingly quickly from the 33k run I did in Ome on Sunday.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Ome Marathon
I arrogantly assumed that my number for the Ome 30k Marathon, (K144), meant I was seeded near the front. On the registration I had included a Japanese Rikuren number along with an estimated time - both of which I naively presumed would improve my position among the throng of 14,500 runners.
Ten minutes prior to the starting gun, Martin Murphy and I walked toward the starting area and I immediately spotted my "K" pen. I saw wide open space in front of the Ks and asked Martin "Am I really seeded at the very front? - the K guys don"t look very fast."
"I think the course goes the other direction," said Martin - and it was only at that moment I realized I was starting at the absolute back of 14,500 runners on a narrow road. Perhaps my mistake was to not simply ignore the rules and countless officials at that moment and belligerently move up to a better starting position.
But, and please note this was the key point of the whole day -- I was really just preoccupied with getting my final long, pace run accomplished 13 days before New Zealand triathlon. OK, I thought to myself, starting this far back will keep me from going out too fast, and I will catch up with the group after a few kilometers.
However when the gun went off (actually we were so far back I am not entirely sure when the official gun went off) the K group run 50 meters and came to a complete stop. Except for me. I started doing back and forth loops in the opposite direction. It took me 13 minutes to reach the starting line. At that moment I was in absolute last place. The funny thing was that it was a bit like being in first place in a race. I had two motorcycles right next to me. The big crowd surrounding the starting area was going crazy cheering for me. Q-chan waved at me.
This was kindof fun for about the 10 minutes or so it took me to get to the 1-kilometer mark. Then I started thinking again about the whole point of my day - getting a final long, pace run accomplished 13 days before New Zealand triathlon. And I started feeling a bit frustrated and annoyed and claustrophobic. Frustrated enough that I started ignoring the officials shouting at me to stop running on the sidewalk. Frustrated enough that I pondered abandoning the whole race and doing 30k on my own on the Ome mountain trail. Frustrated enough that at around the 2-kilometer mark, I spotted a parallel street to the course and dove under the course rope and raced off on my own and ran by myself on this side road for several kilometers until this street merged with the race course. So then I dodged and weaved past people for another 4 kilometers until I caught up with Martin and Keren Miers. We ran together for awhile and I enjoyed chatting and joking with them as we struggled with the crowd.
But, and please let me repeat myself again -- I was really just preoccupied with getting my final long, pace run accomplished 13 days before New Zealand triathlon, so a little past 13 kilometers when I spotted Steve and Mika going the opposite direction I simply abandoned the effort to make it all the way to the course turnaround and officially finish the Ome Marathon, and instead I turned around and joined them. It was cathartic at that point to be running at goal pace - the three of us ran together for about 6-7 kilometers at 4:20 pace. Steve kept urging me to eat more, and I stuffed myself with bananas and chocolate and incredibly delicious strawberries that the families along the course were handing out.
Towards the end I picked the pace up to about 4:00/kilometer pace and worked hard to catch up with Mark Feeley. Alas, immediately upon catching Mark he took a bathroom break. I cutoff the course at 29-kilometers and then added another 5 kilometers on my own to finish my workout.
All in all, despite the frustration, it was a good, long run -- and the crowd support (and Namban team support) was great.
Ten minutes prior to the starting gun, Martin Murphy and I walked toward the starting area and I immediately spotted my "K" pen. I saw wide open space in front of the Ks and asked Martin "Am I really seeded at the very front? - the K guys don"t look very fast."
"I think the course goes the other direction," said Martin - and it was only at that moment I realized I was starting at the absolute back of 14,500 runners on a narrow road. Perhaps my mistake was to not simply ignore the rules and countless officials at that moment and belligerently move up to a better starting position.
But, and please note this was the key point of the whole day -- I was really just preoccupied with getting my final long, pace run accomplished 13 days before New Zealand triathlon. OK, I thought to myself, starting this far back will keep me from going out too fast, and I will catch up with the group after a few kilometers.
However when the gun went off (actually we were so far back I am not entirely sure when the official gun went off) the K group run 50 meters and came to a complete stop. Except for me. I started doing back and forth loops in the opposite direction. It took me 13 minutes to reach the starting line. At that moment I was in absolute last place. The funny thing was that it was a bit like being in first place in a race. I had two motorcycles right next to me. The big crowd surrounding the starting area was going crazy cheering for me. Q-chan waved at me.
This was kindof fun for about the 10 minutes or so it took me to get to the 1-kilometer mark. Then I started thinking again about the whole point of my day - getting a final long, pace run accomplished 13 days before New Zealand triathlon. And I started feeling a bit frustrated and annoyed and claustrophobic. Frustrated enough that I started ignoring the officials shouting at me to stop running on the sidewalk. Frustrated enough that I pondered abandoning the whole race and doing 30k on my own on the Ome mountain trail. Frustrated enough that at around the 2-kilometer mark, I spotted a parallel street to the course and dove under the course rope and raced off on my own and ran by myself on this side road for several kilometers until this street merged with the race course. So then I dodged and weaved past people for another 4 kilometers until I caught up with Martin and Keren Miers. We ran together for awhile and I enjoyed chatting and joking with them as we struggled with the crowd.
But, and please let me repeat myself again -- I was really just preoccupied with getting my final long, pace run accomplished 13 days before New Zealand triathlon, so a little past 13 kilometers when I spotted Steve and Mika going the opposite direction I simply abandoned the effort to make it all the way to the course turnaround and officially finish the Ome Marathon, and instead I turned around and joined them. It was cathartic at that point to be running at goal pace - the three of us ran together for about 6-7 kilometers at 4:20 pace. Steve kept urging me to eat more, and I stuffed myself with bananas and chocolate and incredibly delicious strawberries that the families along the course were handing out.
Towards the end I picked the pace up to about 4:00/kilometer pace and worked hard to catch up with Mark Feeley. Alas, immediately upon catching Mark he took a bathroom break. I cutoff the course at 29-kilometers and then added another 5 kilometers on my own to finish my workout.
All in all, despite the frustration, it was a good, long run -- and the crowd support (and Namban team support) was great.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Run Mileage
My running mileage seems grossly inadequate preparation for a marathon in two weeks. Here is my weekly totals for the last 11 weeks -
Week 1 - 44 km
Week 2 - 34 km
Week 3 - 44 km
Week 4 - 21 km
Week 5 - 41 km
Week 6 - 47 km
Week 7 - 23 km
Week 8 - 67 km
Week 9 - 40 km
Week 10- 42km
Week 11 -43km
Most weeks have only entailed a longish run, an interval or tempo on Wednesday night, and maybe some short post-bicycle run. I am a bit concerned about the fact of not running so many miles.
But then I remind myself that this was the whole idea behind doing an ironman in the first place. My original plan was to do the Ohtawara Marathon last November in hopes of qualifying for the Boston Marathon, a race I have hoped to run for several decades now.
But upon pondering the idea of 150-kilometers per week, I switched my goal to the ironman figuring, hey, I can just walk half of the marathon in an ironman.
For that matter, the reason I started doing triathlon training in the first place was to cross-train and avoid the repetitive stress injuries of running alone. For the most part I have been successful. (Though I must admit my shoulders are starting to ache from the big increase in swimming, and my knees and the back of my neck hurt from cycling so much...)
Tomorrow is the Ome Marathon (30-kilometers). After that I taper. I had visions of doing more this past week, but due to my feeble, protein-deficient condition I have backed off a bit. Here is Week 11 training -
Swim - 2:30 (6.1 km)
Bike - 9:30 (225 km)
Run - 3:30 (43 km)
Total - 15 hours 30 minutes
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Gel and Bananas - Eating during a triathlon
Now my weight has dropped below 60 kilograms (132 pounds). This is even less than what I weighed when I was 16 years old.
I try to eat as much as possible, but with all the cycling and swimming and running and work, I just seem to be getting thinner and weaker.
This evening before the spin class I purchase a "Bento Box" - a clever little bike pack that attaches to the top tube and handle bar stem. My biggest eating challenge to date is not eating enough during long bicycle rides. My food has been inaccessible during my rides - in a little pack under my bike seat. Also, it is hard to peal a banana with gloves on while riding a bicycle. On top of that, I am accustomed to much shorter workouts and races -- typically an hour or less - so eating is something I don't even think about.
At an ironman I will be competing for well over 12 hours, so I better be ready to be eating every 30 minutes or so. According to the New Zealand Race Manual I will be provided with bananas, cookies, Pro4 bars, Pro4 gels, water, Pro4 electrolyte fluid, and Coca Cola.
I am not familiar with the Pro4 brand. Fortunately though gels are remarkably popular in Japan, so I know my stomach can handle them. In the US, sports bars are common, but gels seemed to only be available at sporting good stores. The Japan market prefers the gels - they are cleaner and more portable - and I have been able to find them at all the ubiquitous convenient stores.
After the spin class tonight I immediately eat a banana. Then I pick up some sushi and spinach at the supermarket. After this, I am no longer hungry, but for good measure consume a few bowls of my favorite dinner - Apple Jacks breakfast cereal.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Caffeine
I feel lousy today. And its not just because of all the training. In addition to all the cycling and swimming, I am in the midst of caffeine withdrawals.
Studies have shown that caffeine can enhance performance in endurance events by reducing the perception of effort --by increasing beta-endorphins which reduce the perception of pain and create a sense of well-being, and by delaying fatigue by blocking adenosine receptors.
But to fully realize these benefits, one should refrain from consuming caffeine during the two weeks prior to the event. Well, easier said than done. I cannot exaggerate how central coffee has been to my existence for more than two decades.
Being that I am from Seattle, people naturally assume that I have some passion for caffeine. In fact, I remember back to the mid-1980s when there was only one Starbucks in existence, along with a handful of other coffee shops in Seattle (Cafe Allegra, Last Exit..), and I was considered rather eccentric by other Seattlites for hunting down lattes and hanging out in coffee shops.
So anyway, as I contemplate a 14-hour athletic event, it is not necessarily the positive impact of a caffeine boost that has been on my mind. No, it is the fear that during the long swim and ride I will suffer caffeine withdrawals as a result of not consuming a triple espresso and will drown or collapse in a heap along the course. Late in the afternoon during one of my early long training rides I could feel my head throbbing and my energy fading, and found it necessary to stop at one of Japan's ubiquitous coffee vending machines for a can of dreadful-tasting (but in this case life-saving) canned coffee.
Therefore I have resolved to cut my caffeine intake to less than one cup per day in anticipation of New Zealand Ironman. [A key issue is how to define a "cup". Medical research has indicated that drinking moderate amounts of coffee - two cups of coffee per day is correlated with living longer and healthier. But the "grande" size in America is really equivalent to like six cups. For purposes of my coffee recovery program I have been using a Japan short sized mug]. Quitting cold turkey is just too much for me, so while I was in San Francisco last week I bought decaffeinated coffee. This weekend I drank a mixture of 50% regular coffee and 50% decaffeinated coffee in the morning and afternoon. This morning I prepared a mixture of 25% regular and 75% decaffeinated and have sipped my short-sized concoction slowly all day.
This cutback in caffeine intake is taking a toll on me -- I just cannot make progress on a Powerpoint presentation - I think I need to go home and take a nap before the spin session tonight.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Oifuto - Tokyo's cycling mecca
As bicycle hot-spots go, Oifuto is not among the most scenic. Tokyo's number one destination for cycling training is an industrial port island on Tokyo Bay, where on Sunday morning, when the truck traffic slows down, hundreds of cyclists gather and cruise round and round a 9.5 kilometer loop.
Yesterday I struggled to complete 4 loops around the urban wasteland. I arrived early -- 7:30am -- and was one of the few cyclists at that hour, negating the real benefit of Oi-futo which is the pull of the other people riding.
Immediately after the ride I join Anthony, Mika, and Dave at the Palace and covered 21k at roughly 5:00 minute/k pace - which I am increasinly thinking is my triathlon marathon pace (plus some walking rests).
This ride/run comes on the heels of Saturday's 150-kilometer ride and 14k run. This "double-brick" weekend is probably not what a triathlon coach would recommend, but alas I have little choice but to make up my schedule as I go based on available time. Today (Monday) will be all recovery.
Training totals for week 10 (February 5-11)
Swim 3:30 hours (8 kilometers)
Bike 7:00 hours (180 kilometers)
Run 3:30 hours (43 kilometers)
Total 14 hours
Total 14 hours
Saturday, February 11, 2006
150 kilometer bicycle ride
I have been concerned that my ironman training has not included enough long rides.
The longest ride in the "13-weeks to 13-hour ironman" program I have been following is only 5 hours. Granted 5 hours is a long ride, but I have been extremely curious to see how well I could hold up over a ride closer to the 7-hour, 180-kilometer ironman ordeal I anticipate.
This morning I spotted a window of opportunity to squeeze in a longer ride, and somehow managed to wake up at 6am and head out of my apartment at 6:50. The traffic out to the Arakawa is a nightmare even at this early hour, but mercifully less so. With the sunshine and wind at my back, the morning ride up the Arakawa was extremely pleasant and I averaged close to 30-kilometers per hour.
However, after turning around toward home into a moderate wind, the extra distance begun to take a toll on me. The fatigue really started to hit around 120-kilometers - my thighs started to burn and I had a hard time staying down in my aero bars. Moreover, the exhaustation was making me uncharacteristically irritable - I found myself screaming at the alarmed little league baseball players loitering in the middle of the path: "Wake up!! Get out of the xxxing way! baka! migi!!!" . The final 10-kilometers through the traffic of east central Tokyo was a nightmare and I began to question signing up for a full ironman.
I staggered back into my apartment at a few minutes past 1pm, giving me 150-kilometers in just over 6 hours. In a much earlier part of my life I completed significantly longer rides, however they were stretched over the course of a long day filled with numerous meal breaks and opportunities to rest.
You may think that 150-kilometers is an adequate workout for the day. But the extraordinary triathlete, Mike Trees, I had told me that as much as possible, one should tack a run onto their cycle workouts.
So within about 9 minutes of getting off my bicycle, I was heading out the front of my apartment, much to the astonishment of the front desk staff. I had hopes of intercepting Keren Miers and Mika T who were doing a tempo run around Akasaka Palace, but apparently missed them by minutes.
I started slowly, but was able to measure my pace on a 1250 meter loop around Meiji Art Museum and picked up the pace to 4:20 per kilometer. I finished the run of approximately 12-kilometers at Michael Glenn's weekly "Yoga for Runners" session in nearby Hiroo along with Bob, Miyako, Dave Motoza, Keren, Mika and Taro. The more relaxing yoga poses were a pleasant and helpful way to finish a long training session, but I found my legs and arms trembling and cramping on the poses that required strength and balance.
So -- did I hold up OK on the long bike ride? I am encouraged that I was able to run as fast as I did today on my short followup run. But, all in all, I am even more concerned about riding 180k along with the swim and run than before. I tell Keren afterwords that next time (as if there is going to be a next time), during the base period of training I really want to go on some epic bike trek across western Australia or Canada or somewhere so that I am conditioned for longer rides.
The longest ride in the "13-weeks to 13-hour ironman" program I have been following is only 5 hours. Granted 5 hours is a long ride, but I have been extremely curious to see how well I could hold up over a ride closer to the 7-hour, 180-kilometer ironman ordeal I anticipate.
This morning I spotted a window of opportunity to squeeze in a longer ride, and somehow managed to wake up at 6am and head out of my apartment at 6:50. The traffic out to the Arakawa is a nightmare even at this early hour, but mercifully less so. With the sunshine and wind at my back, the morning ride up the Arakawa was extremely pleasant and I averaged close to 30-kilometers per hour.
However, after turning around toward home into a moderate wind, the extra distance begun to take a toll on me. The fatigue really started to hit around 120-kilometers - my thighs started to burn and I had a hard time staying down in my aero bars. Moreover, the exhaustation was making me uncharacteristically irritable - I found myself screaming at the alarmed little league baseball players loitering in the middle of the path: "Wake up!! Get out of the xxxing way! baka! migi!!!" . The final 10-kilometers through the traffic of east central Tokyo was a nightmare and I began to question signing up for a full ironman.
I staggered back into my apartment at a few minutes past 1pm, giving me 150-kilometers in just over 6 hours. In a much earlier part of my life I completed significantly longer rides, however they were stretched over the course of a long day filled with numerous meal breaks and opportunities to rest.
You may think that 150-kilometers is an adequate workout for the day. But the extraordinary triathlete, Mike Trees, I had told me that as much as possible, one should tack a run onto their cycle workouts.
So within about 9 minutes of getting off my bicycle, I was heading out the front of my apartment, much to the astonishment of the front desk staff. I had hopes of intercepting Keren Miers and Mika T who were doing a tempo run around Akasaka Palace, but apparently missed them by minutes.
I started slowly, but was able to measure my pace on a 1250 meter loop around Meiji Art Museum and picked up the pace to 4:20 per kilometer. I finished the run of approximately 12-kilometers at Michael Glenn's weekly "Yoga for Runners" session in nearby Hiroo along with Bob, Miyako, Dave Motoza, Keren, Mika and Taro. The more relaxing yoga poses were a pleasant and helpful way to finish a long training session, but I found my legs and arms trembling and cramping on the poses that required strength and balance.
So -- did I hold up OK on the long bike ride? I am encouraged that I was able to run as fast as I did today on my short followup run. But, all in all, I am even more concerned about riding 180k along with the swim and run than before. I tell Keren afterwords that next time (as if there is going to be a next time), during the base period of training I really want to go on some epic bike trek across western Australia or Canada or somewhere so that I am conditioned for longer rides.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Asics Gel Kinsei
Today is the product placement posting of my blog where I shamelessly evangelize for my corporate sponsors.
I have been among the early users of the new Asics Gel Kinsei thanks to my longtime friend Terry Schalow. Terry is the head of North American product development for Asics. Terry and the Asics engineering team in Kobe, Japan have been working on the Gel Kinsei for over five years. The development of the Kinsei, which means "golden star" could probably best be compared to NASA's Mercury and Apollo space programs in terms of the overall technical scope and in terms of generating a variety of engineering breakthroughs such as the breathable mesh uppers.
I have found the Kinsei to be a great blend of cushioning and stability. I have dramatically increased the distance of my long runs over the past month and it is great to have shoes that absorb all this pounding, and at the same time work on faster tempo runs.
And continuing on the product placement theme let me put in a plug for my wonderful Orca wetsuit from my superb triathlon colleagues Rieko and Mike Trees, who are in charge of Asia operations for Orca.
Of course I have been forced to buy lots of other gear for the triathlon, but I am not really a gear person. I can't even figure out how to set the time of day on my heart rate monitor, let alone the two-hundred and some other functions. My new Shimano bike shoes look slick, but I do not notice any performance difference versus the clunky bike touring shoes I always wore.
Today is also one of those inevitable postings where I look at my training and my schedule and think to myself - "I am doomed, doomed, doomed, doomed.... I haven't done nearly enough training to date and now things are getting even busier for me...." Crossing the international dateline on the flight from San Franciso to Tokyo yesterday meant that I lost another whole day of training and the lateness of my flight prevented me from participating in the beer mile workout, a training session that no doubt would have been ideal preparation for the inevitable nausea and trauma that comes from the eating and running in the later stages of an ironman triathlon.
Anyway, my week 9 (January 29 to February 4) training totals -
Swim 4:00 / 7 kilometers
Bike 6:00 / 140 kilometers
Run 4:00 / 40 kilometers
Total 14:00 hours
I have been among the early users of the new Asics Gel Kinsei thanks to my longtime friend Terry Schalow. Terry is the head of North American product development for Asics. Terry and the Asics engineering team in Kobe, Japan have been working on the Gel Kinsei for over five years. The development of the Kinsei, which means "golden star" could probably best be compared to NASA's Mercury and Apollo space programs in terms of the overall technical scope and in terms of generating a variety of engineering breakthroughs such as the breathable mesh uppers.
I have found the Kinsei to be a great blend of cushioning and stability. I have dramatically increased the distance of my long runs over the past month and it is great to have shoes that absorb all this pounding, and at the same time work on faster tempo runs.
And continuing on the product placement theme let me put in a plug for my wonderful Orca wetsuit from my superb triathlon colleagues Rieko and Mike Trees, who are in charge of Asia operations for Orca.
Of course I have been forced to buy lots of other gear for the triathlon, but I am not really a gear person. I can't even figure out how to set the time of day on my heart rate monitor, let alone the two-hundred and some other functions. My new Shimano bike shoes look slick, but I do not notice any performance difference versus the clunky bike touring shoes I always wore.
Today is also one of those inevitable postings where I look at my training and my schedule and think to myself - "I am doomed, doomed, doomed, doomed.... I haven't done nearly enough training to date and now things are getting even busier for me...." Crossing the international dateline on the flight from San Franciso to Tokyo yesterday meant that I lost another whole day of training and the lateness of my flight prevented me from participating in the beer mile workout, a training session that no doubt would have been ideal preparation for the inevitable nausea and trauma that comes from the eating and running in the later stages of an ironman triathlon.
Anyway, my week 9 (January 29 to February 4) training totals -
Swim 4:00 / 7 kilometers
Bike 6:00 / 140 kilometers
Run 4:00 / 40 kilometers
Total 14:00 hours
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Arizona Desert Run
I enjoy a 25-kilometer run through Estrella Mountains in Arizona. Running through the empty wide-open desert is such a dramatic contrast to claustrophobic Tokyo.
The swim workout in the pool at this retirement community is good triathlon training. The pool is of epic size and floating around the pool on inflatable tubes are many midwestern Americans (also of epic size) who I can easily imagine are buoys and practice navigating around them.
This week's trip to San Francisco and Arizona negatively impacts my bicycle training. But the morning before my flight I managed a 110-kilometer ride on the Arakawa. I average 24K per hour into wind, 29k coming back. The real highlight of the ride is running into Nambanner Aya Tanaka and Keith Noyes of the wonderful Hong Kong Mountain Marathon series Aya and Keith are doing a training run along the Arakawa.
The swim workout in the pool at this retirement community is good triathlon training. The pool is of epic size and floating around the pool on inflatable tubes are many midwestern Americans (also of epic size) who I can easily imagine are buoys and practice navigating around them.
This week's trip to San Francisco and Arizona negatively impacts my bicycle training. But the morning before my flight I managed a 110-kilometer ride on the Arakawa. I average 24K per hour into wind, 29k coming back. The real highlight of the ride is running into Nambanner Aya Tanaka and Keith Noyes of the wonderful Hong Kong Mountain Marathon series Aya and Keith are doing a training run along the Arakawa.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Rain and wind
Drenching rain pours down all day long today in Tokyo. Still seven of the truly hardcore Nambanners run 6 x 1000 at the track tonight - Bob, Steve, Paddy, Chiba-san, Anthony, Brett and myself. Also Satohi and Mami show up at the track, but inexplicably head to the bar after doing only a warmup.
Brett is tapering for Beppu marathon this coming Sunday. I run 4 x1000 with him at 3:30 pace with a brisk 200 meter recovery jog between. I am able to run in the second lane and carry on a conversation with Brett at this pace, but I start to labor a bit on the final interval as we pick it up to 3:26. It is astonishing to think that Brett plans to maintain this same pace kilometer after kilometer for a full marathon on Sunday.
I do three more intervals with the rest of the group - Steve and Anthony are tapering for Kanagawa half-marathon this Sunday, and I contemplate how it would be fun to join the crew for a flat, fast race. Well, next year. I am in triathlon mode now.
Steve tells me that I look like someone preparing for a triathlon -- I appear to have lost weight. Despite my efforts in recent weeks to eat more, I appear increasingly gaunt and emaciated. I weigh myself and realize the guys are right, I am down to only 61 kilograms (135 pounds) less than what I weighed in high school.
The rain was irritating tonight, but much less troubling than fighting the wind on the Arakawa. Keren and I were almost blown off our bicycles by a harsh cross wind last Saturday during our 100-kilometer ride. I am hoping for benign conditions during my early morning ride tomorrow. I need to cycle 50 kilometers, then go the office, and then catch an overnight flight to the US.
Brett is tapering for Beppu marathon this coming Sunday. I run 4 x1000 with him at 3:30 pace with a brisk 200 meter recovery jog between. I am able to run in the second lane and carry on a conversation with Brett at this pace, but I start to labor a bit on the final interval as we pick it up to 3:26. It is astonishing to think that Brett plans to maintain this same pace kilometer after kilometer for a full marathon on Sunday.
I do three more intervals with the rest of the group - Steve and Anthony are tapering for Kanagawa half-marathon this Sunday, and I contemplate how it would be fun to join the crew for a flat, fast race. Well, next year. I am in triathlon mode now.
Steve tells me that I look like someone preparing for a triathlon -- I appear to have lost weight. Despite my efforts in recent weeks to eat more, I appear increasingly gaunt and emaciated. I weigh myself and realize the guys are right, I am down to only 61 kilograms (135 pounds) less than what I weighed in high school.
The rain was irritating tonight, but much less troubling than fighting the wind on the Arakawa. Keren and I were almost blown off our bicycles by a harsh cross wind last Saturday during our 100-kilometer ride. I am hoping for benign conditions during my early morning ride tomorrow. I need to cycle 50 kilometers, then go the office, and then catch an overnight flight to the US.
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