Running in Zurich

The consulting firm Mercer ranked the Swiss city of Zurich number one among global cities in its 2007 quality of life ratings (Tokyo is 35th. My hometown, Seattle, at a distant 49th at least managed to edge out Dhaka and Port Au Prince).

I certainly found Zurich a pleasant place during my stay there this past week. Everywhere I looked was so aesthetically perfect that it ceased to seem real, and felt more like a movie set or a Las Vegas casino faux version of a European city.

Of course the real criteria of livability for the readers of this blog centers around triathlon conditions. I can report that Zurich ranks pretty high on these standards. Most impressive was the sight of people swimming in the clear blue water of Lake Zurich right outside of the center of the city. In April no less. I also saw a number of cyclists on the bike lane around the 55-kilometer lake.

As far as running, fellow Nambanner and native of Zurich, Christian Sommer, suggested a wonderful course from where I was staying in the center of Zurich, the Hotel Schweizerhof; http://map.search.ch/8023/bahnhofplatz-7

The only real traffic I encountered during the entire 15km run was the trams and train commuters pouring onto the street just outside my hotel at 7am (people start work early in Zurich). After negotiating the first 200 meters from my hotel to the river, I was never forced to stop for traffic. I crossed a pedestrian bridge and followed the Linmat (river) straight out to the lake, running along the "Gold Coast" side of the lake until I reached China Garden, a gift of Kunming. I then returned back to the river, take the first bridge and continuing my run on the other side of the lake. It was all very convenient and efficient. Apparently if I had just a bit more time, the nearby mountain forests offer even more appealing runs.

While I am not yet convinced Zurich would rank at the very top of my triathlon location list (cycling must be tough in January), it was certainly scenic and efficient. Now I am pondering signing up for 2008 edition of Ironman Switzerland

Running in Edinburgh

Now I understand why Edinburgh has produced such great runners. The city center is remarkably compact and remarkably hilly, and my 15k, seventy minute run incorporated several ideal running areas and wonderful scenery. (MAP)

I was told that Scottish triathletes thrive by consuming lots of haggis, the local delicacy. Determined to emulate their stamina and keep my protein intake up, I had a hearty meal of haggis and mashed potatoes upon my arrival in Edinburgh and found it quite tasty with a smoky spicy flavor and nutty texture. I later learned was made from sheep`s guts (intestines, liver, hearts, lungs..) sauteed in the sheep`s stomach and then mixed with onions, oatmeal, herbs and spices.

Sufficiently fueled by my fine meal, I headed out yesterday morning at 630am from my hotel, The Scotsman, a building much like Harry Potter`s school Hogswarts. I ran down the Royal Mile, a medieval street scape which took me to Holyrood Park an extinct volcano that looms over the east side of the old city center. I followed a dirt ridge trail up around the mountain which provided a panoramic view back at the spires and castle towers of Edinburgh.

Coming down out of Holyrood it was only a few blocks to The Meadows, an expansive lawn crisscrossed by tree-lined paths. Apparently this is the running epicenter of Edinburgh, I spotted a half-dozen other runners around the perimeter. After a few kilometers around The Meadows I climbed a bike path through the University of Edinburgh campus to the Castle.

then looped back through town to the hotel.

The hotel manager told me that the Edinburgh marathon is coming up in May and Edinburgh is such a wonderful town that I am tempted to stay for it.

Running in London

 

Having run with throngs of competitive runners around NY's Central Park, Tokyo's Imperial Palace, Sydney Harbor, etc., and given the British reputation in the sport, I was expecting to be jostled by packs of fast, fellow runners around London's Hyde Park yesterday morning.  

 

Instead the run was an experience in wilderness solitude, more like a hike into the depths of the Olympic Mountains.  I was all alone in the vast emptiness of the Park even at the seemingly peak hour of 7:30am.  Finally I spotted another runner far, far in the distance, but as he approached I noted he was wearing an Iowa Hawkeye shirt which made me doubt he was a local Londoner.   

 

I begun to doubt that the British were such serious athletes after all, but then after a full day in central London it became increasingly apparent that no actual English people live or even seem to work in London at all.  The Russian and Saudi billionaires who do reside in the homes surrounding Hyde Park would not appear to be avid endurance athletes. 

 

Shame too, since Hyde Park is a splendid urban run with the perimeter trail creating at least a 7-kilometer loop and wonderful views of lakes, gardens and the vast open fields.  

 

Ishigaki-jima Triathlon

Today's Ishigaki Island Olympic Distance Triathlon had been the focus of my March training. But, alas, I am off in Europe this week on a business trip and could not join teammates Keren and Motoza for the tropical island adventure.

A large incentive for participating in the Ishigaki-jima triathlon was the excuse to visit the magical Okinawan islands of Ishigaki and Irimote.

But perhaps more importantly、it has become increasingly crucial to me to always have some upcoming target events for endurance sports. The events serve to greatly enhance my motivation, performance and overall enjoyment of the sport.

Now the question is what am I aiming for? What is the purpose of my current training? My teammates are urging me to sign up for another grueling Japan Ironman in June, however the Lake Stevens Half-Ironman in early July has a certain appeal.

Running in Sydney

Americans have a reputation for the diligence and intensity of their exercise regime, but the runners in NY's Central Park and along the ocean trail in LA are a casual bunch compared to the morning runners around Sydney's harbour.

I struggled to get out the door of my hotel Friday at the painful hour of 6:30am and was quickly greeted with an impressive sunrise over the harbour and the impressive sight of the iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge. I was also almost immediately passed by a pack of 7 runners doing some sort of fartlek type workout. I thought this was an isolated case, but as I ran through the Royal Botanical Garden another group zoomed up beside me. Everywhere there were runners, swimmers, and people doing yoga. The most intense scene of all was at a steep set of stairs on a hillside at Macquarie Point which was filled with people doing stair repeats.

I have heard that Australia is a large and spacious place, but I cannot confirm this, my two trips to the country being confined to business meetings in the canyons of Sydney's central business district. But I certainly can say that the 6k loop around Sydney's harbour and domain is a great urban run.

Running in Hong Kong

 

I traveled to Hong Kong a dozen times, never venturing beyond the monotony of the hotel treadmill for my workout.  So it was a revelation when my Hong Kong savvy friend Mitch showed me an impressive network of trails less than a kilometer from my hotel in HK's Central business district.

 

Apparently Bowen Road, a 4k stretch of flat, wide pedestrian-only paved trail running a long a ridge, is something of a mecca for HK runners.   Hong Kong has fallen out of favor as a running location with horrific waves of toxic smog blowing in from the factories of China, but I saw more than 20 other runners during our hour run, more runners even that people walking their pets.  

 

The views from Bowen Road were impressive, but then Mitch and I ran up the almost vertical Wanchai Gap trail to a loop around the top of Hong Kong island via Middle Gap Road, dirt trails, and Blacks Link which provided even more amazing views.  As we finished the run in the early evening, the lights of Hong Kong's skyscrapers seemed close enough to touch, even as we descended through a dense jungle. 
 

No more treadmills for me in Hong Kong.

 

Transition

• One day of recovery is required for each of the marathon's 26 miles according to some ancient wisdom. 
• Several of my teammates entered races within three weeks of completing a marathon, and suffered debilitating injuries that left them shells of their former running selves for years afterwards.
• Cutting Edge  Runner insists on AT LEAST 2 weeks of "transition" after a major endurance event.

I keep this all in mind as I begin swimming and cycling training in earnest these past three weeks since the February 18 Tokyo marathon.  In fact my muscles do feel sore, and I have been almost continually fighting off a cold.  But the sun has been shining, work has been slow, and my teammates Keren and Mary asking me to join them on rides along the river.  What can one do?  Here is my weekly triathlon training totals over the past five weeks:

Jan 28 - Feb 3     5:30 total hours  / Run  59 km / Swim 3km / Bike  0     (taper)
Feb 4 -  Feb 10    6:45 total hours / Run  58 km / Swim 5km / Bike 0      (taper)
Feb 11 - Feb 17   4:45 total hours / Run  18 km / Swim 4km / Bike 20km (taper)
Feb 18 - Feb 24   7:00 total hours / Run  47 km / Swim 3km / Bike 0     (marathon)
Feb 25 -  Mar 3  10:00 total hours / Run  32 km / Swim 5km / Bike 125k  (recovery)
Mar 4 -  Mar 10  11:00 total hours / Run  37 km / Swim 5km / Bike 120k  (recovery)

Tokyo Marathon

I ran well at the Tokyo Marathon Sunday, finishing in 2:55:50, a personal best by over 10 minutes.

When I say I ran well, what I mostly mean is my pacing. Or to a certain extent Martin Verdier's pacing, since we ran together and traded off on pace for almost the entire run. Here are my 5k (gun) splits:

5k 22:32
10k 20:26
15k 20:28
20k 20:39
25k 20:35
30k 20:29
35k 20:45
40k 21:07
42k 9:18

Among the most challenging aspects of the day was coping with handing in my bag of warm clothes and then waiting in driving rain at the starting line. After that, the running felt relatively easy, at least until we reached the first turnaround at 15k and faced a bit of headwind.

When I reached the halfway mark in 1:28:20 I wondered about my chances of breaking 3 hours. I was already tiring, and everyone knows that marathoners slow down after 30k. That I actually managed to run a slightly faster second-half of the race could be attributed to:
1. Gels - 30grams of carbohydrates every 35-minutes
2. Martin and the other supporters - Elite athletes stay within themselves and focus on form, but talking and cheering other people helped me considerably
3. The psychological boost of overtaking 2,500 runners from the 2k mark to the finish.
4. Long training runs - My overall training was moderate, but I did four quality 30k-plus runs in the final weeks leading up to the marathon plus many long trail runs

Apparently I was 353rd overall. Given the caliber of the local running community, I am surprised to finish so high.

When I staggered to the finish of the Seattle Marathon in a time of 3:07 I told myself that I would be back and break 3 hours. Well it took 26 years, but it is good to finally run sub 3 hours (as evidenced by the film footage of the finish

Caffeine Taper - 2

Clearly the lack of caffeine is taking a terrible toll on me. I have been irritable and can't concentrate at work. I am staggering through the day, my mind in a thick fog and my head throbbing.

The plan was to cut down to less than 50mg per day of caffeine (the equivalent of half of a small cup of coffee), in the days leading up to the marathon, then get the boost of a triple espresso on Sunday morning, 45 minutes before the marathon. But this afternoon I broke down and bought a short Americano.

As I sit here sipping my caffeinated beverage, a sense of well-being and peace begins to seep back through my consciousness. But at the same time I am shattered to think I will still be wrestling with the coffee demons on Sunday morning.

Recalling my last marathon

In order to gain perspective on Sunday's marathon effort, I try to remember what I experienced the last time I ran a marathon*.  But the last time I ran a marathon was so very, very, very long ago (hint - Jimmy Carter was still in the White House), that all recollection is fuzzy.  I vaguely recall the following:

1. The rain -  Unrelenting cold wind and rain gusted off Seattle's Lake Washington.  It was a typical November day in Seattle.  No matter how wet it gets this Sunday, I am not terribly concerned about the impact on my run.  I am concerned that rain will dampen the crowd and fun and socializing (isn't this the main point of the event?).

2. The wall - I faded badly around 20 miles, walking much of the last few miles with other runners shouting encouragement as they went by me.  They say that the mind cannot remember pain, but I remembered it well enough that I did not enter another marathon for over a quarter century.  I have no recollection what I consumed during the marathon, but I am certain now that it was grossly inadequate, and a factor in my meltdown.  One of my main process goals on Sunday is to eat a gel or banana every 30 minutes.

3. My result - I finished in about 3:07.  So if I run reasonably OK on Sunday, I should be able to establish a new personal best time.  The marathon is one of the few major running distances where I have a realistic chance of posting a new lifetime PB. 

* In this case I am not considering the 42.1 kilometers of Ironman to be a "marathon".  The walking/running tactics and constant eating make it seem like a different event entirely.

Asics store

Today I visit Asics' first brand store, which opened this week in the Ginza area of Tokyo.

More than just a shoe store, the company says it is seeking to facilitate a whole "running lifestyle". I am signed up as one of the first store "members," though I have not yet achieved blue or platinum membership, so I don't know if I can use the shower facilities or join the group training run.

Of course the evil empire, Nike, launched their own dedicated, destination retail outlet, "Nike Town" years ago - with its overwhelming, in-your-face, videos, loud music, signage, colorful lights, lots of Maria Sharapova and Lebron James. All Las Vegas style hype not really aimed at the serious athlete.

The Asics store on the other hand is an austere, stark space of brushed metal and bright white light, like a contemporary art museum, with running shoes displayed like precious pieces of modern art.

The curators, I mean sales staff, in their sharp black outfits, intently explain the product features with loving reverence. The whole process certainly reinforced my image of the Asics brand as a being technologically superior.

Caffeine Taper

In preparation for the marathon, other athletes are focusing on reducing their mileage and increasing carbohydrate intake. Not me. I am focused on reducing my caffeine intake. This "caffeine taper" is crucial to surviving 3+ hours of grueling caffeine deprivation (not to mention running).

This week I began diluting my daily morning coffee (not my afternoon coffee though). Friday morning I blended one spoonful of decaffeinated coffee and two spoonfuls of the regular caffeinated stuff. Today I blended 50% decaffeinated and 50% caffeinated. The dream is to achieve a low coffee consumption level by next Sunday. Wish me luck.

Kanagawa

You may not think a running event that starts from a cooking oil factory, runs for 5 kilometers under a concrete expressway, past a sewage treatment plant, around a large electric power station and then back under the expressway sounds so terribly appealing.  And if that doesn't sound bad enough, you have to repeat the whole thing twice.  But the Kanagawa Half-Marathon is one of the highlights of the winter running schedule here, and so on Sunday I traveled to the Kanagawa Half an hour south of Tokyo with 17 of my teammates.

Prior to the run, I had a very clear vision of race strategy - teammates Martin Verdier and Juergen and I would run together at a pace of around 3:50 per kilometer (which would feel magically comfortable), then we would try to pick it up a bit toward the end.  This idyllic fantasy seemed to be materializing for the first 5 kilometers.  Martin and I caught up with a Juergen after a quick start and we all ran as a team.  I tried to encourage our squad to stay together loudly singing the Sister Sledge song:
"We are fa-ma-ly-
Mar-tin and Juer-gen and me"
and referring to us as the three musketeers (trois musketeers corrected our French teammate Martin). Teruyuki ran with us for a while so we were the four musketeers (or quatre musketeers).  Around 5k Juergen begun warning us that the our pace was too fast, but tragically I failed to heed his warning and soon it was down to just deux musketeers - Martin and I. 

My strength quickly began to drain away, and I grew increasingly uncomfortable, but still hung on to this 3:45 pace up to the 16 kilometer mark at which point the wheels came off completely and everything went terribly, terribly wrong.  Martin looked back at me and I waved him off with a "gambatte".  As I struggled slowly through the final 5-kilometers, I repeatedly smiled and shouted when I saw a Nambanner running past in the opposite direction, sortof a sad, pathetic effort to put on a front, as if to say "noo proooblem - I may be bent over and shuffling and drooling, but actually this is only my training pace and I am feeling just chipper".

Of course one thing kept me going - knowing a bottle of cooking oil straight off the assembly line is waiting at the finish line.   In the end it was all worth it -- I got my cooking oil, and over french toast and coffee at Denny's we all regaled each other with our tales of our exploits earlier in the day amidst the freeways, sewage plants and factories.

Winter Training Update

This ostensibly being a triathlon training blog, I suppose it is about time I summarize my training. Since early December my cycling has dwindled to nothing (due to cold weather and disenchantment with riding around the Oifuto cycling course). I am hoping that when I start cycling again in March, this 10-week layoff will not have caused too great a loss of conditioning. Meanwhile I have continued to swim 2-3 times per week, while increasing my running to 4 times per week in January from 3 times per week throughout most of 2006. This increased run training includes longer "cruise intervals" on Wednesday nights, and for the past 3 weeks, long runs at Tokyo's imperial palace. Here is total weekly triathlon training hours and weekly running mileage for the past 11 weeks:

Week / Triathlon Hours / Running Mileage
Nov 12 - 18 9:30 hours 18 km
Nov 19 - 26 9:00 hours 67 km
Nov 26- 12/2 7:30 hours 37 km
Dec 3 - 9 8:30 hours 56 km
Dec 10 - 16 2:00 hours 18 km
Dec 17 - 23 4:30 hours 48 km
Dec 24 - 30 10:30 hours 55 km
Dec 31 - 1/6 5:30 hours 39 km
Jan 7 - 13 9:30 hours 68 km
Jan 14 - 20 9:15 hours 78 km
Jan 21 - 27 8:15 hours 70 km

Wallet Mystery

Among my most consistent rituals is the Wednesday night track workout. At the track, like everywhere in Japan I have been completely unconcerned about crime (in contrast to say when I lived near South-Central Los Angeles in the early 1990s and one was expected to maintain a state of vigilance on a 24-hour basis). After a while you just grow relaxed here -- twice in Japan I have left my wallet on the train and each time it returned, cash intact. Once I left my passport on a public phone, and another time I left my cell phone in a taxi and again they were quickly returned to me. So when I finish my running workout and shower and my wallet is not in my pants pocket I immediately assume I somehow dropped it. However, I cannot find the wallet in a quick search of the surrounding area, and I know I must have had the wallet when I arrived at the locker room and put my pants in the locker. My locker was only unlocked for a matter of minutes while I showered, and surely no one would brazenly reach into the locker, take out my trousers, remove my wallet, and then neatly fold and replace my pants in that time? I start to grow concerned when the lost & found at the track office does not have my wallet and they send me to the nearby koban (the neighborhood police box).

I spend hours at the koban, a bizarrely low-tech process -- the police officer scribbles notes on tiny scraps of paper and then with glacial slowness rewrites them into a multi-page report which I certify by applying a thumbprint in dozens of different spots. The report is all in Japanese so I have no idea what I am actually certifying.

By the time I am through at the Koban it is late at night but I still am able to catch up with a few teammates nearby and manage to borrow a few thousand yen from Chris to get home and buy a rice ball for dinner. The effort and concern on the part of the Japanese teammates and track staff is astonishing -

• the area garbage collectors are put on alert to look for a wallet as they sort the trash
  
• a team of student assistants is mobilized to scour every locker
  
• Namban teammate, Chiba-san, contacts various local officials to pressure them to crack this heinous case
  

But days pass and the wallet does not materialize. Technically I am supposed to replace my alien registration card right away, but I naively cling to the expectation that my wallet will appear in my mailbox any day now.