EverySecondCounts

4:10 - Ibusuki Nanohana Marathon

2012-01-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Ibusuki, 1hr south of Kagoshima by train or bus. I stayed in Kagoshima because Ibusuki was full-up.

Race morning, up around four to grab a taxi to the train station and take the bus just after 5am.

We arrived in Ibusuki almost 3hrs before the 9am start, and I spent the down-time between the bathroom and trying to stay warm in the gym. Funny pre-race story, I noticed some runners outside the gym, numbers strapped to their chest, canned coffee in one hand and cigarette in the other (really?!?). To each his own.

In true Japanese style, the race began promptly at 9am. Shoulder to shoulder for the first mile (imagine 30,000 people on a two lane road), then opened up ever so slightly. Around mile 10 (16km) the pack thinned out enough to move at will.

I was stuck to the plan, heart rate below 150, running just over 9min/ mi (6min/ km), and of course, keeping an eye out for toilets. After my 7 pit-stop marathon in August and continued stomach problems through training for this event, location of toilets was constantly on my mind. But, almost 2hrs in and not an inkling of a need to stop, 'a victory in and of itself. Ok, get it out of your mind, see how far we can go.'

Just passed the 2hr mark and through half-way, low heart rate, no bathroom break, taking on food and sports drinks at every other aid station (each station was 2mi apart). Lots of food on offer: bananas, tomatoes, sweet potato, noodle soup, hard candy and more; but, my stomach was holding up, 'don't get adventurous, bananas and sports drink. Ok, maybe one sweet potato. Mmm, tasty, but don't risk anymore.'

Closing in on 3hrs, strolling through what seemed a very rural area, but people still lined the streets (not packed, but they were there), impressive support. We rounded the bottom of this 26mi loop and were heading back toward Ibusuki. This part of the course overlooked the sea, which was gorgeous, but cold.

3.5hrs and we hit a long, steep climb (or at least it seemed so after that much running). I could feel the strain and lack of training through my legs, knees and calves. The only thing that kept me at a decent pace was the guy who stomped passed me, cigarette in hand, 'you have got to be kidding me!'

Finally we crested the hill followed by a steep decline. I decided to let my legs go, 'forget the short, efficient strides, let the legs free for this downhill,' and it felt great. With some relief in my lower half, I came on the final stretch through Ibusuki, streets lined and sun shining.

No major kick at the finish, keep the heart rate low, crossed the line and couldn't believe it. No not time, 4.10.23 right on schedule, but I didn't stop for the bathroom once! What a way to start the year.

Now time for my favorite, recovery. Each racer was given a bowl of udon or soba noodles (love'm both, but went for soba), 3 onigiri (rice ball), an anko sweet (red bean) and of course, sweet potatoes (absolutely delicious). After feeding, I hopped on the race sponsored bus to a local onsen (natural hot spring) where racers could use the facilities for free. I have to say, I've recovered from races in several ways but nothing beats an onsen.

A great race: beautiful scenery, well organized, good crowd support, sufficient aid stations and toilets and great post-race set-up. Click here to see the race course on my Garmin page (note my heart rate monitor is wrong, I know my HR was never as low as 70 nor as high as 200 as Garmin claims.).

I will say, this is not a PB course. The shoulder to shoulder start and 1,900ft of climbing put a PB out of reach. Though, I suspect 1,900ft is low for Japan.

Tips for this race:
- Get a hotel in Ibusuki as travelling from Kagoshima means being up too early on race day
- If not staying in Ibusuki, register the morning of the event (takes 5mins) to avoid making two trips
- Don't worry about locking up your personal items, everyone leaves their bags in the gym (more-or-less unsupervized, amazing I know, welcome to Japan)
- Get as far forward as possible at the start
- If you can handle the first 8-10mi without food or water, no need to take anything with you as there are aid stations every 2mi afterward

Oh yeah, in case you're curious, I saw a number of racers red-faced and sweating sucking down numerous post-race cigs (no, I'm not joking).

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T15:27:00.000-08:00

Feliz Navidad!

2011-12-24T15:15:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all.

In my family, we have our Christmas meal on la noche buena, aka Christmas eve. Pork, black beans and rice, yuca, platanos are the staples topped off with my mother's homemade flan (yes, the picture is from last year b/c I'm in Japan).

Racing in Japan

2011-12-20T14:46:00.000-08:00

For the holidays, I'll be taking off to Japan to spend time with my partner and her family (very excited!).

I'll be away for 17 days, and yes, I have my workout schedule planned out. For convenience sake, I'll give up the bike and pool and stick to running and strength training (super-sets of plyometric jumps, push-ups, pull-ups, core, etc). The plan is to work-out on 14 of the 17 days varying the distance of the runs, broken up by strength.

The best news of all, while in Japan, I'll run my first race of the year, Ibusuki Nanohana Marathon! Ibusuki is a small city (about 50,000 people) in the southern part of Kyushu, the southern island of Japan. The area is known for the small, yellow flower called nanohana (seen in the picture below). The best part, the city nearly doubles in population for the day with 30,000 runners taking part.

I'm not doing much marathon specific training, so no plans for a PB. Plus, I'm still in low heart-rate, base training mode, so hoping to come in just over 4hrs.

I'll try to keep the blog going while I'm away, but if not, there are a few pre-scheduled posts to tide you over.

Week 6

2011-12-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

An up-and-down week.

The up, I'm getting used to sessions of an hour or more. I can stay focused through the whole workout and sitting on the bike for a long time no longer hurts.

The down, over-eating. Several nights in a row, I was feeling extremely hungry, almost like a bottomless pit! No matter what I put down there it didn't seem to fill up, and without my girlfriend around to keep me in check, I need to pay extra attention to my eating.

Happy Birthday

2011-12-16T09:51:00.000-08:00

How did I celebrate? With a few of my favorite things: running, swimming and lifting.

A morning run into work enjoying the half rain, half snow in the air. Full day of work topped off with 30min gym session of mostly plyometrics and run to the indoor pool in Highbury for a few hundred meters of cool down. Great day.

Fiver

2011-12-11T15:02:00.000-08:00

Week five over.

Good one through Thursday evening. I hit all the sessions, even the early mornings. Then, Thursday night Christmas drinks with gym folks put a big alcoholic damper on Friday's plans. Recovered for a Saturday morning bike session (got really in to it, enjoying the longer sessions again) and brilliant Sunday long-run along the Thames and Regent's Canal.

Grey, crisp sky, still, calm water, cool, fresh air, chilly at first, warming up step-by-step, there's not much better than a winter morning's run.

Stretching

2011-12-07T14:48:00.000-08:00

The first few weeks back felt like a chore, and nothing was more "tick-the-box" than stretching. How I spent 5+ hours per week stretching earlier this year is beyond me. So, of course, I haven't done as much as I should, and I'm paying for it.

Left knee, hip and right hamstring issues. No injuries, yet.

If there is any one lesson that I would pass to first time ironman or endurance racers, it's stretch. When you think you've stretched enough, stretch some more and when you're bored stretching, take five more mins to stretch.

Thanks for the reminder, I'll take you up on that.

Overall Plan for 2012

2011-12-04T09:42:00.000-08:00

My motto for this year, expect change and stay flexible.

On a personal note, 2012 is the year I finally move to Asia. I have wanted this for a long time but want no more, it's time for action. The issue, I have no idea when. This uncertainty makes race planning difficult but looking on the bright side, it keeps me flexible and allows experimenting with different types of training (i.e. whatever I can squeeze in between researching, deciding, planning and executing a move).

Given my jell-o-like plans, training will target half-iron distance events (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21km run) so I continue to build a triathlon base with an end of the season focus on longer runs finishing the year with an ultra-marathon (exact distance tbd, but 100km run sounds nice!)

Subject to change, below is an outline.

Wks 1-15: Base (aerobic training)
- Mon, Nov 7 to Sun, Feb 19
- Swim, 2x per week at 500 to 1000m per session
- Bike, 3x per week 30 to 90min
- Run, 4x per week 20 to 120min
- Yoga, at least 1x per week and up to as many as possible
- Weights, 2x per week of short 30min sessions

Wks 16-25: Build
- Mon, Feb 20 to Sun, Apr 29
- Similar as above but adding in sprint (non-aerobic) work

Wks 26 - 35: Peak
- Mon, Apr 30 to Sun, Jul 8
- Same but beasting it!

So, looking for a half-iron distance race in July which is peak season for Ironman sponsored half's across America, TriStar events in Europe and a few dotted around Asia.

After that, I'll take a few weeks of r&r before launching into ultra training.

Victory!

2011-11-30T08:34:00.000-08:00

Feeling good today after getting up early and finishing a full session before work.

Up at 6.15, 25min run to work and 30min weights session. Makes such a difference.

3 - Preoccupied

2011-11-26T13:47:00.000-08:00

Some personal stuff going on (will reveal in time, oooo, the suspense), so not much posting, but sticking to the plan.

However, not stretching enough, already more niggles than I had in 7mnths of training for Ironman. Crazy. Time to get back to the foam roller and endless hours of stretching (yes, hours a week).

Check back next week.

Week 2 - Progress

2011-11-19T09:48:00.001-08:00

All pointing upwards. I've hit all the workouts this week including some extra time. Though, I have to say, it all seems a chore. Sitting on the bike, even 30 minutes, isn't easy. But in the end, I'll love it.

Morning soreness is the best feeling in the world (it means PROGRESS!).signs of progress! The "chore" feeling will disappear and shear enjoyment will return.

Week 1 - A Total Mess

2011-11-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

Between work and the pub, I did nothing after day 1. Week 2 can only get better, right?

Day 1, 2012

2011-11-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not confused, I know we're still in 2011. However, today was the first day of training for next year's events. We'll cover training plan, events and goals for 2012 in a future post but want to get a few thoughts down.

I start out the new season with weights, easy 20min bike and easy 20min run.

Weights
I was lost with only a rough idea of how to start when lucky for me, I bumped into Lloyd, a rower and fellow gym-enthusiast, who happened to be doing a weight session. His plan mirrored what I had in mind, so I joined his session:

4x through, circuit style (one to the next, to the next...)
- 6 cleans
- 20 sit-ups
- 10 bent over rows
- 7 dead lifts
- 15 push-ups
- 10 squat jumps

First time through, piece of cake. Second time, ok. Third, panting. Fourth, wow, really!?! Let's remember, this is day one, hope I don't wake up tomorrow with a muscle injury. A bit long, 40mins, I'm looking for max 30mins, but a good start.

Bike & Run
Easy stuff, Zone 1 heart rate (another topic to cover in the near future). Hopefully turning the legs over will minimize damage from weights.

Feels good to be back on a schedule.

WELCOME

2011-11-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

To new friends and old, welcome to EverySecondCounts (ESC).

For those who missed my intro to blogging, you can catch up here. The previous blog was started to share the ironman experience with friends and family, but no one mentioned blogs are addictive! So here we go again, this time covering more than a single ironman race.

ESC? Simple. My goal time for the 2011 Ironman UK was 11.29.59. I finished in 11.32.21 missing the target by 142 seconds, nearly one second per mile over the 140.6mi of the race.

Feels good to be back on the blog!