Was very sore for the first two days after the race, but started to be able to walk without pain by Wednesday. Rode my bike into work on Thursday, and that felt good, although still a bit tight in my right hamstring. Took Friday off again because of the rain.
Went out today (Saturday 3/3) for about 16k along the Arakawa. Was surprised how stiff my legs felt, and it was a pretty tough effort overall. At the turnaround point, I ran up the side of the riverbank for some hill repeats 10 times. Got chilled by the south wind on the way home.
My first second run in the Sole Runners, and they felt pretty good. Got some thick, warm socks from LL Bean, which helped. Ran quite a bit on the grass, although it was quite wet and muddy in places, which was a bit slippery, although I was happy that my feet didn't really get wet. Ran mainly on the road on the way back, but no soreness on the bottom of my feet. I think these will workout great as my main training shoe, but won't likely do much racing in them.
Probably going to have to take tomorrow off because of work, although I may try to sneak in something short.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Tokyo Marathon 2012: A Painful PB
Well, my fourth marathon, completed. As always I didn't really know what to expect going into this, and mainly just hoped I would be able to stick with my 'run fun, run hard' goal.
I got a relatively good night sleep the night before, and the pains in my back and right hamstring that I had been having seemed to have subsided, and I didn't seem to have any flu symptoms after Sky and Miho had been sick with it all week, so I considered myself lucky. I got up before 6:00 and stuffed three eggs and two thick pieces of toast down my gullet, food that I thought would give me energy, but not upset my nervous race stomach. From there I took a nice, long, hot shower to loosen my body up a bit, got into my gear, did some warm up core exercises, took some meds to block up the works, and I was out the door. Took Chiba-san's advice to get off at Nishi Shinjuku (instead of the very crowded Shinjuku), and it was great. The station was not crowded at all, and had a nice out of the way space for me to do some warm up squats and other exercises.
I got out of the station and was pretty disoriented, but it was easy enough to follow the other runners in the general direction of the starting line. It was getting down to the wire to find my luggage truck, and really hard to maneuver around, but got there in time and got my costume out of my bag. Was a bit shocked to see that my magic glasses had broken in my bag (jinxed by Denni-kun!), but the guy at the luggage truck had some duct tape, so I was all set. Went to the A starting block and listened to all the opening ceremonies, and saw Haile Gebreselassie pass by with the other elites on the way to their starting block.
The weather was ideal, a little chilly with total cloud cover, but very little wind. As expected, my cape kept me nice and warm while we were waiting. People were super excited, lots of first time Tokyo runners, and a few fellow Nambanners around that I could see but couldn't get to through the throngs. When the gun finally went off, it was a slow, but unstoppable shuffle. Two years ago I was in E or F block, and it took me a solid 5k before I could run freely without swerving around people, this time, it was within about 5 minutes or so.
Within 5k, I saw a familiar bald head, Bob, from the Namban running club. It was my first time actually running with him in a race, and it was great to have someone to latch on to, as I knew our time goals were similar, and that he would be solid with pacing. We exchanged a few words here and there, but otherwise were pretty focused.
Running in a costume was a blast right from the beginning. I got lots of hoots and cheers, although the most common thing I heard (in Japanese) was, 'What the heck is he supposed to be?! Whatever you are, good luck!' There are a lot of people that run in costume, but most of the costumes are based on characters or things people know, so spectators can call out to them. I got, 'Green Man, Superman, Hero, Tohoku (the kanji on my cape), Kamakiri (preying mantis), Batta (grasshopper)', and who knows what else. Bob got a lot of hoots too because he knows so many runners in Tokyo, and there were quite a few spectators looking for him. At about the 12k mark I ran by my friend Hiroshi and his family, so stopped for a quick high five for him, and at around the 15k mark ran by the crew from KidZania that were there to also cheer for the mayor of one of the towns hit by the tsunami that was running. So great to run by people you know in a race.
After the halfway point things started to go downhill for me, and it started to get harder and harder to keep up with Bob (he went on to finish 10 minutes faster than me, and he's in his sixties!). I had green leggings on each calf, I had written 'Run Hard' on one, and 'Run Fun' on the other, and symbolically, the 'Run Fun' one fell off around the 25k mark, and things started to get a lot less fun. The main issue was that the shoes I was wearing were minimal (no cushioning), which is what I always train in, and that I had done a 40k run in a few weeks earlier, but racing is a different story because you tend to pound your feet a lot harder. Dealing with sore muscles is one thing, but dealing with sore foot bottoms is harder to deal with and hard to ignore. Then my legs started to get pretty heavy, too. To exemplify how much I slowed down, here are my 5k splits:
5k 21:22
10k 21:17
15k 21:51
20k 21:36
25k 21:59
30k 23:14
35k 25:59
40k: 28:12
Wow, 7 minute difference between my first 5k and the last! Sore feet, heavy legs, some stomach cramps, and just no push. I wonder how much of it may have been 'bonking' or just running out of energy. I had one Weider gel with me that I drank over the course of the first 20k, I stopped for water a few times, and grabbed some energy drink and half a banana, but maybe I should have done more of that in the first half of the race instead of waiting until the second half. I always have such issues with my stomach that I am hesitant to put anything in it, and I hate the taste of most of that energy drink and gel stuff.
Somehow I kept pushing through the final distance, greatly helped by the great spectators, and also by pure stubbornness. I hated having such a weak finish to the race, and having so many people push by me, but that's just the way it goes sometimes I guess. I was happy to get in for a PB (3:18:50 official time, 3:17:50 net time because it took time to get to the actual starting line), but really would have preferred a stronger finish. Back to the drawing board, or back to training as it were, and see if it can't get in closer (or under!) three hours next time.
It was another good lesson in what an art is is to race well, especially the marathon distance. It was also a good reminder that Tokyo is a really fun race, and that the spectators in Japan in general, no matter how small or in the middle of nowhere the race is, are great!
I'm grateful for the experience, and grateful for all of the generous people that supported me on the run. I know the money we raised won't make huge difference for the charities we gave to, but the collective effort of everyone that ran for charity will certainly help!
I got a relatively good night sleep the night before, and the pains in my back and right hamstring that I had been having seemed to have subsided, and I didn't seem to have any flu symptoms after Sky and Miho had been sick with it all week, so I considered myself lucky. I got up before 6:00 and stuffed three eggs and two thick pieces of toast down my gullet, food that I thought would give me energy, but not upset my nervous race stomach. From there I took a nice, long, hot shower to loosen my body up a bit, got into my gear, did some warm up core exercises, took some meds to block up the works, and I was out the door. Took Chiba-san's advice to get off at Nishi Shinjuku (instead of the very crowded Shinjuku), and it was great. The station was not crowded at all, and had a nice out of the way space for me to do some warm up squats and other exercises.
I got out of the station and was pretty disoriented, but it was easy enough to follow the other runners in the general direction of the starting line. It was getting down to the wire to find my luggage truck, and really hard to maneuver around, but got there in time and got my costume out of my bag. Was a bit shocked to see that my magic glasses had broken in my bag (jinxed by Denni-kun!), but the guy at the luggage truck had some duct tape, so I was all set. Went to the A starting block and listened to all the opening ceremonies, and saw Haile Gebreselassie pass by with the other elites on the way to their starting block.
The weather was ideal, a little chilly with total cloud cover, but very little wind. As expected, my cape kept me nice and warm while we were waiting. People were super excited, lots of first time Tokyo runners, and a few fellow Nambanners around that I could see but couldn't get to through the throngs. When the gun finally went off, it was a slow, but unstoppable shuffle. Two years ago I was in E or F block, and it took me a solid 5k before I could run freely without swerving around people, this time, it was within about 5 minutes or so.
 |
| Running with Bob from Namban. His comment: 'I feel so plain running next to you!' Plain, perhaps, Bob, but damn fast, too! |
Running in a costume was a blast right from the beginning. I got lots of hoots and cheers, although the most common thing I heard (in Japanese) was, 'What the heck is he supposed to be?! Whatever you are, good luck!' There are a lot of people that run in costume, but most of the costumes are based on characters or things people know, so spectators can call out to them. I got, 'Green Man, Superman, Hero, Tohoku (the kanji on my cape), Kamakiri (preying mantis), Batta (grasshopper)', and who knows what else. Bob got a lot of hoots too because he knows so many runners in Tokyo, and there were quite a few spectators looking for him. At about the 12k mark I ran by my friend Hiroshi and his family, so stopped for a quick high five for him, and at around the 15k mark ran by the crew from KidZania that were there to also cheer for the mayor of one of the towns hit by the tsunami that was running. So great to run by people you know in a race.
After the halfway point things started to go downhill for me, and it started to get harder and harder to keep up with Bob (he went on to finish 10 minutes faster than me, and he's in his sixties!). I had green leggings on each calf, I had written 'Run Hard' on one, and 'Run Fun' on the other, and symbolically, the 'Run Fun' one fell off around the 25k mark, and things started to get a lot less fun. The main issue was that the shoes I was wearing were minimal (no cushioning), which is what I always train in, and that I had done a 40k run in a few weeks earlier, but racing is a different story because you tend to pound your feet a lot harder. Dealing with sore muscles is one thing, but dealing with sore foot bottoms is harder to deal with and hard to ignore. Then my legs started to get pretty heavy, too. To exemplify how much I slowed down, here are my 5k splits:
 |
| Literally panting. What happened to fun?! |
10k 21:17
15k 21:51
20k 21:36
25k 21:59
30k 23:14
35k 25:59
40k: 28:12
Wow, 7 minute difference between my first 5k and the last! Sore feet, heavy legs, some stomach cramps, and just no push. I wonder how much of it may have been 'bonking' or just running out of energy. I had one Weider gel with me that I drank over the course of the first 20k, I stopped for water a few times, and grabbed some energy drink and half a banana, but maybe I should have done more of that in the first half of the race instead of waiting until the second half. I always have such issues with my stomach that I am hesitant to put anything in it, and I hate the taste of most of that energy drink and gel stuff.
 |
| Can't even keep my head up here... |
It was another good lesson in what an art is is to race well, especially the marathon distance. It was also a good reminder that Tokyo is a really fun race, and that the spectators in Japan in general, no matter how small or in the middle of nowhere the race is, are great!
I'm grateful for the experience, and grateful for all of the generous people that supported me on the run. I know the money we raised won't make huge difference for the charities we gave to, but the collective effort of everyone that ran for charity will certainly help!
 |
| At least I finished in front of the guy in the body suit... |
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