Tokyo Marathon

Today was the day for the half marathon which I wanted to think of as a benchmark for my progress for the big race in 3 weeks. Before i talk about today’s race….. i just want to say to Paul & Graham - its not how well you run the race, but how well you blog the experience that counts!!  I enjoy reading both of your posts and want to nominate each of you for post race recognition/awards:

             Most informative blogs – Paul, for all the valuable info (jumpers knee, norovirus) & great graphics (Homers brain, jumpers knee, running shoes, watch).

             Most entertaining blogs – Graham, for such classics as ‘Blue’, ‘My knee is speaking to me’, ‘Cramp’ and of course his unique training philosophy…. ‘I am story believer in the power of rest and of positive thinking.’ : -) 

Now about the race… it was packed with 4500 participants. At the start the running track was full half way around the stadium with runners standing a to b (asshole to belly button). The course was laid out in 3 laps, the first was 10k and then cut down to the same 5k course for laps 2 and 3. Two things stand out from the race that i didn’t expect, were the amount of people and the idea of not knowing where i was running.

          For the entire race there were people right in front of me and right behind me, not once did i have the feeling that the pack had thinned or i was running on my own. Also because i didn’t study or understand the map, i had no idea where we were going.  It was a little strange to be running a race and not know where i was racing too.

I ran pretty hard the first 10k lap, and started thinking that I may run out of gas if i didn’t slow down. After the 10k mark I made a conscious effort to slow down & get my wind back. I noticed a LOT of people running by me on that 3rd lap and i was wondering how many I would be able to catch before the race was finished. A bit after the 15k mark I felt good and picked up the pace, so I slowly started passing many of the people who just ran by me. I made a real effort not to look at my watch during the run…. so i don’t know my times at 10 or 15k, but when i got to 20 i had to take a look. 1 hr 38min.  I was pleasantly surprised and felt good about the run into the stadium, around the track to the finish line.

My official time was 1hr 44min, but the time on my watch (from when I crossed the start and finish lines) was 1hr 43 min.  I ran the race with Andy & I think he finished at 1hr 53min, he had a personal best for his time to the 20k mark and until today he had never ran over 20k, so that was also a personal best distance for him.

A colleague of mine knowingly informed me that this week I should be running 30km.

“Once I had done this” he noddingly said “I can ramp down the length of my runs”

With this knowledge firmly lodged in my brain I set off for the gymn. Quite prepared to hog the treadmill for 4 hours !! BTW they have instigated a new system at my gymn. They obviously ran out of patience with Oyajis hogging the machines for longer than the specified 20 minutes. The new system requires you to write down your starting time. The attendents can come round and throw you off if there are people waiting. Quite clever I thought.

Anyway I started my run and managed to clock up 10 km after 70 minutes. Not bad considering the amount of socialising I had been doing the night before. I had to stop after 10km. My knees started to talk to me. Rather than risk injury I stopped there.

Will try again on friday. If I knock up 20km then I am on the right track.

I ran the unofficial Tokyo marathon back in 2004. It was going really well. I made good progress dodging the obasans, people walking their dogs, navigating the pedestrian crossings. However at around 27km a hodokiyou (pedestrian foot bridge) bit me. I was climbing the stairs when the first twangs of cramp hit me in the leg.

I have had cramp before and remember the cure is to rub the area to warm it up and, i assume, to get the blood circulating. After the foot bridge we ran up a hill and it was here that the mother monster of all cramp land bit me and never let go. Not matter how much rubbing the cramp didnt go away. at least for a while.

With signs like this you realise you have to take it easy. For the next 14 km I walked. It was only the last 1km did I start running.

 The thing is. I only found out later that the wardens of the race carry a can of coolant spray. You can use it to cool the leg and remove cramp. I wonder if the Tokyo marathon wardens will have the same spray ? I may even thing about carrying my own.

ran 10km today on the treadmill in Daikanyama public gymn. Took it easy ie) slow. ran it in around 70 minutes but felt like I could forever. According to the Hal Higgledy schedule I should be running 25 km but where do people find the time to train that hard ?

I am story believer in the power of rest and of positive thinking. You have to train hard of course but then you have to let the body recover otherwise damage will happen. With positive thinking you can run forever !

Went to a lair entertainingly called the “Thanks Clinic” in Shibuya to get my knee investigated. Doctor-san pushed and prodded, stretched and poked. I stopped him and asked him to look at my knee. He did so. An x-ray followed. It didn’t look good.
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Another one followed of my knee. I was then massaged, studiously, before proceding onto a machine with electrodes and dials impressively called “Differential Current Therapy”. I sat down.

10 minutes later I was lightly singed but otherwise unharmed, and the doctor was ready with his latest x-ray accompanied by his expert opinion. Patellar Tendinopathy, otherwise know as Jumper’s Knee

Cause: running too much ( and to think I paid for this investigation .. )

Cure : Stop running

I asked for how long .. depends. 3 weeks minimum. Perfect. Thanks, clinic.

Oh dear. I was quite pleased with myself for Saturdays work.

However, soon afterwards, my knee started to speak to me.

“Ouch” it said.

I will resume the Hal Higdon schedule on Tuesday and hopefully the knee problem will go away. only 35 days left.