Relays

Back in September 2014, I'd planned my winter training around the goal of running a half-marathon PB in Osaka on Sunday 25th January. I'd read that it was a flat course with a strong field. As there is no cross-country season here, I was struggling to find something to work towards over the winter so this seemed to fit the bill. However, I've had reason to reconsider this plan.

Firstly, though communication with my UK based coach is sporadic, it's clear he doesn't want me to run a half-marathon yet. I've struggled to make any progress as I've been beset with repeated injuries. Best get that dealt with first, build a solid base of consistent training and get my times down for shorter distances before I have a crack at a half-marathon. This is currently the longest injury free spell that I've had for a very long time, so I haven't even began to fully benefit from this yet. If I can keep this up, the speed and PBs should follow.

Also, I've had two offers come along. On February 8th I've been invited to run in the Kyoto Ekiden. An Ekiden is a relay race, though with a unique Japanese twist. I'll be representing Kyotamba, a rural town that I teach in twice a week, in this intra-Kyoto Prefectural competition. I'd read about Ekiden relay races before I came out to Japan and hoped to get the chance to run in one.  So getting an invite to this is great. I'll be running a 7K leg.

This week I also received an invite to run in another relay event. This is the Kinki Masters Relay Road Race Competition, to be held in Wakayama Prefecture on February 22nd. The distance is 3K for each leg. I'll be representing Kyoto Prefecture in this inter-Kansai region (Kinki) prefectural event. I've never been to Wakayama-ken before, so this will be a great way to get my first visit in.  The invite comes after I came to the attention of the Kyoto Masters Athletic authorities by winning the Kyoto Masters 10K just a few days before Christmas last year. It will be a great honour to represent Kyoto-fu.

So, from having an empty period with little to aim for, my schedule has got some quality racing action in it, with both relays being held over short distances, which my coach would favour. In that light I think that it's best that I change the plan. Focus on these relay races instead. After the relays, look for  some fast 5K and 10K races in the spring and ideally some track races. 

2015 is off to a promising start.

End of 2014

I haven’t updated this blog for a couple of weeks as my computer was broken. In that time I have ran in two races.

On 23^rd November I did a 10K in Nagai Park, Osaka. It was two and a half laps of a pedestrianized road inside the park. The 10K start line was 400 metres behind the half-marathon field, with both races starting at the same time. So it was bit tricky getting past the half-marathon runners, with a lot of weaving about being necessary. The day was unseasonably warm and there were huge crowds milling about relaxing in the park as well. I ran at the front of the 10K field from the start, though was quickly joined by one other runner. We stayed together throughout the race. I made a bid for glory at the end of the second lap, but the other runner caught me and put in a nice sprint finish to take the race in 35 minutes 6 seconds. I finished second in 35 minutes 19 seconds, which is also the second fastest time I’ve ever ran a 10K, though its well outside my PB.

On 14^th December I ran my last race of 2014, and my first Japan Masters Athletics race. There were two races, a 5K and 10k, with both fields starting together, in Kyoto City along a hard packed sand path beside the Kamogawa River. Soon after the race started there were three runners in the lead pack, including myself, though I didn’t know whether the other two runners were in the 10K or 5K. I tried to hang on to them but after we turned around a cone at 2.5K to head back to the start line, they opened up a gap on me. As I approached the 5K mark and start/finish line, I could see the other two runners cross the line and stop: so they were racing the 5K! I turned around and headed back the way I had just came, knowing now that I had a clear lead in the 10K. It was a narrow path at points and plenty of dog walkers, cyclists and joggers about, and with three turns in the race, it wasn’t a particularly fast race. I crossed the finish line in 36 minutes 5 seconds. A journalist from the Kyoto Shimbun newspaper interviewed me after the race and it was published in the paper the following weekend.

That’s it for 2014. I had hoped that I could make a breakthrough and get a PB this year, but I didn’t. The closest I came was running 16 minutes 40 seconds for 50000M in Osaka in May, which is a joint PB. However, I had three lengthy injury spells this year, each with back pain, that prevented me from getting more than several weeks of consistent training in before having to take a few weeks off.  I’ve thought several times about quitting competitive running as I don’t seem to be able to make any progress from the plateau that I’ve reached, but each time have quickly dismissed the idea. If I can remain injury free for several months and train consistently, then I remain optimistic that in those circumstances I could set new personal best figures. Maybe next year!

Kyoto Tamba 5K Road Race

Having done this race last year, my first in Japan, I had been looking forward to repeating the race. Last year I finished fourth overall and first veteran man aged 30-49 in a time of 17 minutes 22 seconds. For this year’s race I set my eyes on a top three finishing spot and beating last years' time, preferably with a sub-17 minutes run.

This year, the only change from the previous year was that the race was on a Monday and not Sunday, it being a national holiday. My plan was simple. Knowing that once the starting gun was fired, there would be a sprint start from most of the field along the race course, which for the first 200 metres was uphill, before the pace settled, I would wait until the course turned out of the park where the race started and descended into the nearby town – and then work at catching and then hanging on to the lead group. This is what happened last year. This year though I just couldn’t seem to get my legs going. It was half way down the steady descent into the town that I realised that there was no way that I was going to catch the lead group.

I just tried to dig in and graft away and not give up hope that I could at least have a solid run. After 1 mile there was a steep 200 metre climb which didn’t seem too difficult, though a young whippersnapper worked his way past me on the ascent. At the crest of the hill I could see down a long stretch of flattish road which the course was to follow and decided to latch onto the youngster and use him to pace myself down the road. However, after about half a mile his pace began to waiver so I dispensed of his services and slipped past him.

Two runners passed me at 4K. I could hear them working at catching me and had expected to see the youngster once more, but unbeknown to me he had faded well back by that point. The race finished on a track and I tried to at least look strong and determined in front of the assembled crowd. I crossed the line in eighth place overall, and third veteran man aged 30-49, in a time of 17 minutes 18 seconds. So I had achieved one of my goals, though I was disappointed not to have run a better race.

3rd man 30-39 prize: locally produced Tamba wine,
 a bag of rice and certificate

The second placed overall finisher was a fellow British runner, also called Mike, formerly of Darlington Harriers. He recognised the Morpeth Harriers club vest that I had worn during the race and we chatted whilst waiting for the prize giving ceremony. It seems that he’d previously lived in Japan many years ago, had married a Japanese woman, was a veteran 50 years plus runner and returned to Kyoto annually at this time of year on a business trip from his current base in Reading in the UK and made it a tradition to run the Kyoto Tamba Road Race. Small world.

Awaji Island 5KM Road Race

I first read about Awaji Island, the birthplace of Japan, several years ago and so was open to an opportunity to visit. When I saw that there was a road race on the island I booked a place. Training has been going terribly over the last few months, beset with chronic back pain and other distractions. So I saw this race as a nice day out and a bit of fun rather than aiming for a good finishing time.

The course was mostly flat and I felt good throughout. It was a bit of a surprise to run a decent race, finishing 4^th man overall and 3^rd senior man in a time of 16 minutes 49 seconds and securing a place on the Winners Podium. I have finished in the top three of several races but always missed the prize giving ceremony due to not understanding how these events work and the language barrier. I was determined not to miss it this time around. I received a magnificent trophy, three types of Awaji Island produced salad dressing, a certificate and a bag of onions – the agricultural product that the island is best known for!

Other highlights of the day include driving across Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and seeing Izangi Jingu Shrine. Awaji Island is connected to the main island of Japan, Honshu, by Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, which at 2 miles in length is the longest suspension bridge in the world. It was a bit of a thrill to drive across it to and from the race venue, which was next to Izanagi Jingu Shrine - the oldest shrine in Japan.

Legend has it that Awaji was the first island of Japan, created by the gods Izanagi and Izanami. They stirred the sea with a heavenly spear, and when they lifted it, a droplet of salt water fell from the spear into the sea which created Awaji Island. The gods then descended to live on the island, going on to create the other islands of Japan before taking human form and living out their days at the site of the shrine that is now dedicated to them. Many runners took the chance to visit it after the race, making a relaxing end to a nice day out on the island.

Fuji-san

Fuji-san is one of the most iconic images of Japan. Naturally, I've long wanted to climb it, and the official climbing season is July and August of each year. On Thursday last week I decided to make a solo attempt on it and so booked two days off work.

Waking up at 5AM, I really wasn't sure if I'd even be able to succeed in getting to Fuji-san, never mind making it to the summit. However, I managed to get to Kyoto Station and book myself onto a Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo without incident. Speeding along to Tokyo and admiring the views out of the window, a sense of excitement began to build inside me. Yet I was pressed for time as I had to get to Shinjuku Bus Station in Tokyo to catch a bus to Mt. Fuji 5th Station, the starting point for 90% of people who climb the dormant volcano. You can't just rock up and jump on the bus; you have to pre-book a seat. As it turned out, I managed to just about make the 10:40AM departure I'd booked onto with only a couple of minutes to spare.

I arrived at Kawaguchiko-guchi go-gome 5th Station just after 1PM, and spent some time admiring the view of the towering mountain, eating some lunch, buying drinks to take with me and pottering around the shops. At 3PM, I set off on the long walk up the Yoshida track.

It usually takes 6 hours from the 5th station to the summit. I did it in 3 hours. It certainly wasn't my plan to beast it. There are a number of mountain huts along the track, that you have to pre-book into, to spent the night on the mountain. The tradition in Japan is to time your ascent so that you reach the summit in order to greet and see the dawn of the new day. As I fancied trying it the traditional way, I'd booked into Fuji Hotel, a mountain hut at Station 8, 1.3 KM from the summit. My initial plan was to just reach the hut and spend the night there before heading to the summit in the dark to see the dawn of a new day. I surprised myself on the quick pace that I made up the mountain, and reached Station 8 by 5:30PM. Carried along by the excitement of having got to this point, and knowing that the top of the mountain was so close with a few hours of daylight left, I just thought, I'm going to go all the way to the summit now!

The summit itself is a huge crater with a 1.6 KM circuit around it's rim. There were very few people on the summit that evening when I got there, which was suprising given the thousands of people I'd seen on the way up. The peak itself was on the far side of the crater to where the Yoshida track arrives onto the crater, so I made my way around to that whilst admiring the stunning landscape and views. It was thrilling to reach the peak, and as I made my way back around to the Yoshida track, I got to see the sun set.

Making my way down to the mountain hut, which was little more than a large wooden shed, I hungrily devoured the curry rice meal they gave me before attempting to get a few hours sleep. I didn't succeed in getting much sleep as you're forced to sleep virtually on top of other climbers crammed onto long wooden racks, and I had the misfortune to be next to the only person who seemed to be snoring very loudly. I felt on such a high at this point that I didn't care much, though I did feel a slight sensation in my head which I knew were the symptoms related to the altitude that I was at.

At 2AM, many of the climbers in the hut started to wake up and get ready to make their way in the dark to the summit in time to see the rising sun. Despite the chronic lack of sleep I virtually leapt out of my sleeping bag and headed outside to join the huge thronging crowds snaking their way up the trail. At some points on the track the crowds were so dense that they ground to a halt and people just stood in long lines in the dark waiting to move forward slowly. I didn't want to miss out on getting to the summit to see the sun rise so I ducked and dived and weaved my way through the crowds using the skills I've learnt on countless cross country races in the UK and got to the peak on the summit by 4AM, where there was a small group of people with cameras at the ready.

First, the glow of the sun began to appear on the horizon on the opposite side of the crater, and at around 4:30AM the sun appeared in the sky. There was a real sense of excitement in the air and one of the guys on the summit shouted out loudly, "Ohayo gozaimasu" (good morning) as the sun appeared, followed by a chorus of dozens of people replying "Ohayo gozaimasu!". By 5AM the sun was rising rapidly and I decided to make my way off the summit as I was getting really cold by this point. I took the Gotemba track off the summit, which had few people on it compared to the busy Yoshida track. On the way down there was an option to take a 20-minute side trip to the summit of Hoei-zan, a peak formed by a secondary side vent of Fuji-san. I took the side trip as I was enjoying myself so much, but there were very strong winds on the summit and ridge of Hoei-zan. There was a great view of Fuji-san from the summit.

I was amazingly lucky with the weather as it was perfect conditions during both off my visits to the summit of Fuji-San with clear views, no rain and not windy at all apart from when I was on the summit of Hoei-zan. It really was a fantastic experience and a true highlight of my time in Japan.

OTTY National Convention 10K

I ran this 10K race yesterday morning, set in the leafy and attractive grounds around Harima Park, Hyogo. I’ve got a warm up routine that I like to go through before each race. About 40 minutes before the gun is fired, I do a run of about 2 miles, starting very slowly and building up the pace. Then I do about 5 minutes of stretching, followed by five or six 80-100 metre striders at goal race pace, before joining the start line.

Getting my excuses in: as I did the first mile of my warm up yesterday, I realised that this was not going to be a day for fast times, with the first mile of the course being almost entirely uphill. The weather was muggy and overcast. Sweat dripped from my arms onto the ground as I leant against a wall during one of my stretches. So, it’s going to be a warm race, I thought to myself.

The race course consisted of two 5K undulating loops on tarmacked paths. The race field was fairly large and I remained near the front throughout. However, there can be no mistaking the fact that I had a bad run! Sometimes when you race, though you’re suffering, you feel strong and can churn out the miles. Not yesterday. I had thought that having had a solid run at the Osaka 5000M track race four weeks ago, equalling my PB, I’d have a chance of running well in this race.

Though it was a struggle throughout, I was still surprised to see a time of 37 minutes 8 seconds on my watch when I crossed the finish line in about 10^th place. Rather disappointing given the amount of time and effort that I expend in training and seems to cast serious doubt over my sub-34 minute ambitions. Was it the heat? Was it the undulating course? Got the training wrong? Whatever the answer, I was the 2^nd male finisher aged 30-39 years of age, and as a result won a huge bag of Hyogo produced rice. This has to be the most unexpected prize I’ve ever won in a race, but certainly very welcome!

5000M Track Race, Osaka

It’s been six weeks since my last race and I was pleased to end this racing drought yesterday with my first track race in Japan. The 5000M race was scheduled to start at 13:05h at the athletics stadium in Hattori Ryokuchi Park, Osaka City. It was hot by the time I arrived so I sat in the shade and drank plenty of liquid whilst watching the 10000M senior men’s race. I went through my usual pre-race warm-up routine and reported to the start point at 13:05h raring to go. After some confusion, I was told that my race was ‘next’, so I waited for 20 minutes whilst the first 5000M got under way. The same thing happened at the start of the next race! Such is the difficulties of the language barrier because I couldn’t read the race schedule I’d been handed when I picked up my race number.

The lead group of the senior men's 10000M race

At 2pm I was called over to run in the third 5000M race, by which time temperatures had reached 28 C. I’m not used to running in such heat. This time I hadn’t got warmed up properly as I expected the race to start 10 minutes later than it did. There were 9 men in this race. As I hadn’t done a proper warm up, I set off steadily when the starting pistol was fired. I went through the first 200M in 7^th place in 39 seconds. The pace at the front of the field was very fast, so I was content to let them go.

At 600M I started trying to move up through the field. I quickly got past the 6^th and 5^th runners, but it took me until lap 5 to catch the 4^th placed runner. There was a table with cups of water placed half way down the home straight. The 4^th placed runner slowed to get a drink which meant I closed the gap much more rapidly than expected and got in front of him on the next bend. My mouth was bone dry by this point as it was baking hot, but I just thought to myself, I’m not going to get a drink; it’s only 5000M and I don’t want to lose any time.

The runner in 1^st place at the beginning of the race had set off at a blistering pace such that he had a huge lead after the first 400M. However, his deterioration was dramatic. He’d slowed to 3^rd place by lap 6 so I set my sights on closing the gap and caught him by the end of lap 8 and I then stayed in 3^rd place until the end of the race. He finished 19 seconds behind me and 53 seconds behind the winning time of 16:06. Getting in front of him gave me great pleasure, as he had clearly badly judged the pace of his race. Running at an even pace really is the key to good performances, though by no means easy to do.

Under 40 years of age men's 5000M race results

I finished in a time of 16 minutes 40 seconds. This is exactly the same time as my previous personal best for this distance, set 3 years ago in Jarrow in May 2011. So it was a solid run, though disappointing to get so close to a personal best and not make it! It’s the best indication yet that I’ve turned the corner with my running after two terrible years of decline and certainly whetted the appetite for more track racing in Japan, if I can find races to enter.