2 x 5k Time Trial

The last Wednesday of every month at Tokyo's Oda Track, 5k time trials are run at 7:20pm and 7:40pm.   It works out just right for me to do a hard pace workout combining both runs.  For example this past Wednesday I ran the first 5k with Masako in 19:09.  Then I sprinted over to catch the start of the second 5k, wherein I chased Juergen and Anthony for an 18:45.  The magic of this session is having so many people around me to push me along.   I just really enjoy being swept along by the crowd of humanity.  Some people might complain that the track is too crowded, but I consider this part of the charm of Oda Field -- and Tokyo in general for that matter.

I just wish I could carry this same energy to my road runs.  I have been doing this double 5k workout almost every month for almost a year and it has proved to be some of the best running I have done -- my 10k races have not been much faster...

Swim squad

To rise to the next level in triathlon you need to train by swimming with swimmers, bicycling with cyclists and running with runners. -- Stuart Macintosh


I hated swimming lessons when I was a child. All the spluttering and thrashing and swallowing water and shivering in the cold pool. No wonder I can barely manage to swim the crawl.

Nonetheless, this past Monday night I worked up the motivation to join four other guys for a coached swim workout at the Sendagaya public pool.

We started off with a 4x200 meter drill, and at the end of the first 200 meters I was already almost a lap behind. I looked up at the coach, a nice Canadian fellow named Greg, who said to me, "We have a lot of work to do".

My impression is that the other four guys, Keren, Fabien, Steve and Andrew, are pretty accomplished swimmers. It is difficult for me to distinguish how strong of swimmers they are from my vantage point, but somehow I have to think that if I was thrown in a pool with four people randomly picked off the street I would not be quite so far behind.

In any case, after months of swimming slow back and forth laps on my own, it was extremely helpful to have someone watching me, having someone providing feedback, be ing forced to do drills, and feeling pressure to at least sortof try to keep up with the others.

The key takeaways --
1. Kick - Imagine a loose rope around my ankles and keep the kick within that rope
2. Pivot shoulders - Drill by exaggerating swivel of body so that I am perpendicular to pool
3. Palm pressure - To increase speed don't stroke faster, instead concentrate on the force of water on one's hand.
4. Elbows up - Pull the medicine ball down. Not sure if I have this one down.

Top 5 reasons to do Japan Ironman

Within hours of the cancellation of the New Zealand Ironman earlier this month, it occurred to me that the logical course of action is to immediately sign up for the Japan Ironman which is to be held on May 28.  But I instantly rejected this idea.  Not just because of the cost and time and training involved, but rather because of the stress during the days and hours leading up to New Zealand.

Now I with the deadline for Japan Ironman days away, I am again contemplating whether or not to sign up for another unreasonably long endurance event, and analyzing the pros and cons of entering the Japan Ironman.  Here are the top five reasons why I am thinking I might register for Ironman Japan:

1.      Peer pressure from Keren Miers and other teammates
2-5.  I cannot think of any other reasons

March 2006 - Becoming a sofa spud

March is shaping up as a month of very limited training. 

Rest and recovery was to be expected if I had done the New Zealand Ironman on March 4th.  However I didn't do an ironman and so I still need to stay in shape and find an opportunity to prove that I am not made of jello, and of course I need to contend with Mike at the Ome Trail Run in 10 days.

The first part of the month was spent tapering for the cancelled ironman.  Then I spent a week travelling.  Upon my return to Tokyo I was busy with work.  Now I will spend the next 3 days skiing and snowboarding.

My bicycle training would benefit from taking my bicycle out of the cardboard box which I used to transport it to and from New Zealand. 

Even in a month of idleness and sloth, I still manage to do some of the basic, easy, core exercise I have done most every week over the past 25 years. 

I even managed to run 28 kilometers with Martin Murphy on Sunday.  This single run almost doubles my mileage for the month of March. 

Here are my weekly training totals over the past 3 weeks:

February 26 -- March 4
Swim  - 1 hour
Bike  -  3 hours
Run   -  2.5 hours

March 5-11
Swim  - 0
Bike   -  7 hours
Run   -   1 hour

March 12-18
Swim  -  1. 5 hours
Bike    - 1  hour
Run    -  1.5 hours

Ome Trail Run Training Blog

My life has been devoid of meaning and purpose since my dreams of doing the New Zealand Ironman were so cruelly shattered two weeks ago.

Now I am back in Tokyo and trying to pick up the pieces.

I had assumed the the Greater Perrinville Athletic Association Blog would go dark once my Ironman mission was accomplished at New Zealand.  But now it looks like the blog will live on, to chronicle my ongoing triathlon training and serve as inspiration to train for other epic events.

So I signed up for the Ome Trail Run on April 2nd.  My life is completely focused and devoted to the Ome Trail Run.  (Well, OK, to be honest, I am not THAT focused on the Ome Trail Run - if I wake up the morning of April 2nd and see that it is raining I might just turn out the lights and go back to sleep).  

Mike, the guy from the Akasaka spin class, says he plans to defeat me at the Ome Trail Run. Clearly, Ome is shaping up as the Clash of the Titans, Havoc in the Hills, Melee in the Mountains, Godzilla v. King Kong, Carnage in Kanto...   Mike is a top-level mountain bike racer, and he may be an animal on the spin machine, but Ome is my element, my domain, my stomping grounds.   So it appears that after two weeks of drift and purposelessness I have renewed sense of meaning in life.

Bicycling Waiheke Island

 

Lugging my bicycle all the way to New Zealand for the ironman was a bit of a hassle.  But now I am in a great position to tour the splendid city of Auckland on my own bicycle with cleats and bike shorts and gloves.

 

Touring new places by bicycle is really what I enjoy about the sport.  Riding round and round the same loop for hours training for an event is OK for awhile, but not nearly as compelling.  

 

Bicycle was the perfect way to cover Waiheke Island.  Well, I suppose 99% of the world population would not agree with me -- Waiheke Island is extremely hilly.   But I am in uniquely good shape now, and hills are my strength.   I reached Waiheke Island on a 40-minute ferry from central Auckland.  There was a bit of traffic for the first few kilometers, but then the remainder of the island was empty roads through wide open pastures with spectacular views of the surrounding bays.  

 

After being crushed by all the other cyclists at Iroman New Zealand, I was ready to give up on the sport, but not I think I will keep my bicycle.

 

  

Loaded Hog 5k

 

After the aborted ironman I found myself with strength to bicycle and run in Auckland.  In fact, Juergen even found us a 5k running event in downtown Auckland on Tuesday night.

 

The Loaded Hog 5k is a really clever little event.  An upscale waterfront bar hosts the event every Tuesday evening at 6pm.   Runners pay NZ$6 (450-yen) to enter the race which goes out-and-back along the harbor, starting and finishing at the bar.  Then, upon finishing the 5k, the runners head to the bar's waterfront patio and trade their numbers for a pint of beer (or soft drink), creating a nice little social event.    At 7pm awards and random prizes are handed out.  The whole thing is quite friendly and casual and convenient, for the price of a drink you get a race thrown in.

 

I jogged the 5k with Takako - finishing in about 24 minutes, toward the back of the field of 150.  As I expected there were a lot of strong runners in a little event like this in New Zealand.   Juergen finished in 10th place in a strong time of 17:47.  Many of the NZ runners noticed my body mark numbers which I still haven't completely washed off from the triathlon.  Everyone was very knowledgeable about the ironman and very sympathetic.  This is really a fine country despite the unstable weather.

NZ 90k bike ride and 21k run

 

....oh yes, after the New Zealand Ironman was cancelled at 6:45am last Saturday, the race officials told us to come back at 8:15am at which time they would announce substitute activities for the day.

 

Ultimately instead of a 3.8k swim, 180k bike and 42.2k run, a 90k bike and 21.1k run was held.  So it turned out we would not even do a half-ironman, more like a 37% ironman.    

 

Seemingly this revised event played to my strengths since I am a weak swimmer.  But I found I was not extremely competitive on this bike distance.

 

In a key respect,  the event turned out the opposite of what I was seeking when I entered the ironman.  As I recall writing in my first blog entry, I wished to do a less competitive, time-intense event -- rather I sought a pure endurance event which would be an accomplishment for me simply to finish. 

 

The bike race had a wildly fast start.  They sent us off at 3-second intervals through a street lined with a screaming crowd.  All the other cyclists seemed to start the ride like they were shot from a cannon.  I told myself to simply maintain the pace I had been training at -- 25k per hour -- as guys literally blew by me, one after another.   I should note that the wind had not really died down at the time of the run.  Early in the ride we were exposed to a side wind that almost blew me over.  The course was roughly out-and-back with a tailwind on the outbound section and a headwind on the return.  So I reached the 45k halfway turnaround in about 1 hour 12 minutes.   Most of the way out I found myself averaging over 40k per hour pace.  I struggled to eat every 20-minutes and stay in my aero bars given the wind, fast pace and rather bumpy road surface.   Of course my 45k return ride into the wind was much slower - a bit over 2-hours, however at least I started passing a few other cyclists - especially when Juergen was running uphill beside me filming me with his video ketai.   My 3:14 bike time seems OK relative to my expectations going in, but I am not sure how to factor in the wind.

 

My thighs were screaming tight from the moment I started the run, and felt painful every step of the 21k.  I had not encountered such stiffness on my bike/run workouts - I guess the faster pace made a significant difference.   Nonetheless I managed to do the first few kilometers at a solid 4:00 minute per kilometer pace, and somehow managed to pick up the pace to 3:55 around the halfway point.  I thought I might achieve a good run time, but begun to fade badly over the final 4-kilometers.  I would primarily attribute my fading to the wind on that part of the race, but perhaps I stopped eating too early.  I clocked myself in about 1:31 for the half-marathon.

 

The crowd in New Zealand was incredible.  My number had my name on it and the people lining the course yelled "Go Jay" with so much passion I felt like they were all family.  It was apparent that the triathlon enjoys a stronger following in New Zealand.

New Zealand Ironman Cancelled

 

The Ironman officicals cancel the ironman due to high winds and surf exceeding 2-meters on Lake Taupo. 

 

On the morning of the event, I wake up at 5am and it is incredibly cold and the wind is screaming.  We wait in a big tent that threatens to blow over.  We all put on our wetsuits and are ready to go, and the though of actually getting into the water is a bit daunting.  Finally at 6:45, 15-minutes before the anticipated start, the officials announce the swim is cancelled and we should await further notice.

 

Of course it is a bit distressing after 3-months of focusing on accomplishing Ironman.  I had chosen the New Zealand Ironman in part because it seemed to promise the most benign conditions among the Ironmans I might have targeted.

 

So I still can't call myself an ironman (though I did get the t-shirt).

 

Training and preparing for Ironman was a wonderful experience.  Actually doing the Ironman was just an added bonus.  Most of my fellow competitors that I spoke to had been training far longer than I have. 

Day before Ironman

 

At the pre-race Ironman briefing this morning the officials threatened to cancel the swim if the wind does not die down.   I did a quick test swim 30 minutes ago and the swells were a meter high.  I have swam in worse conditions, but not for 3.8 kilometers.  I worry a bit about finishing within 2:20 minutes, and find myself almost hoping that the swim is cancelled.   This screaming wind is going to add a bit of extra challenge to the bike leg too.

 

It is enjoyable meeting my fellow athletes.  But I am glad that I did not arrive in Taupo any earlier than yesterday.  Too much time to get even more anxious about the event. 

 

I did manage to get pretty good sleep on the flight down and last night.  And my weight is up to 64 kilograms.

 

The primary advice we are given at the carbo-load dinner is to not go out too hard, and to enjoy the event itself.  I cannot imagine going out very fast tomorrow on any leg. 

My last marathon

Its been a long time since I ran a marathon.  I mean a really long, long time.  Jimmy Carter was still the United State president.  The top songs on the music charts were "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd, and "The Tide is High" by Blondie. 

My goal on that rainy day in Seattle was to break 3 hours.  I had been running 70 miles per week during the month leading up to the marathon  (this took place in America - so I think in miles).

I had not been running for long at the time.  Not surprisingly I went out fast and hit the wall.  I shuffled along for the entire last 6 miles.   Sitting here today, I can't really grasp the pain that I felt that day.  But even now I know it was pretty bad.  I do remember frequently walking and people running by and encouraging me to run, so I would obediently break into a shuffle for a few hundred yards. 

Immediately upon crossing the finish line, in spite of all the pain, I vowed I would enter another marathon soon, and I would break 3 hours.  Perhaps at my next marathon I would even qualify for Boston.  My relatives lived near Boston and it was a dream of mine to travel there, and I thought it would be an incredible experience to compete in that race.  I knew I could do it.  I just needed to run smarter.  "Next spring I will do it" I thought to myself, or at the latest "next November".

Well, the years go by. 

I suffered from the typical over-use running injuries, and when I did run, I tried to limit the punishment on my body.  Running was something I did for the sheer pleasure of it, not to train for some event.  People never stopped asking me - when are you going to do a marathon Jay?, and my reply was always "maybe next year".   Somehow I never felt ready.   I never felt like my body could hold up.


So now do I feel ready to run a marathon Saturday?  

Sure, why not.   No time like the present.
 

Travel and logistics

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.

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.

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.

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.