Running in Okinawa

I was plagued with injuries all last year: I pulled my hamstring in April and then pulled my achiles tendon in October. May 2010 be injury free!

I fully recovered from the hamstring injury in September and immediately starting building up mileage for a winter marathon when I pulled my achiles tendon.

I attribute my achiles tear to old shoes, under- and over-training. In October I ran Chicago Marathon as an easy-paced training run. I had no hopes of a good finishing time; just finishing would be an accomplishment since I hadn’t run farther than 16 miles before the marathon.

I ran well. My pace was faster then I’d anticipated, even with frequent potty breaks, partially due to the cold 30 degree weather and the flat course. I ran for Fred’s Team in honor of a charity to raise funds to fight cancer, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

I took a few days off to recover after the marathon and then was supposed to jump right back into training. I didn’t. In fact I only did two runs that week: one 8-miler at 6:10/mi pace and a 21-miler at 6:38/mi pace. Even though I felt great from beginning-to-end that icy-cold morning, it was only 30 minutes after the 21-miler that my achiles ruptured. I should have run a few days of recovery miles before my 21-mile attempt.

I’d finished the long run, immediately jumped in the car without any cool-down, and returned home to start the day. I’d showered and was half-way up the stairs when i felt the tear. I think I tore my achiles on the stairs. I think my shoes were a cause; they were old and worn and had thick-cushioned heels, like most running shoes on the market today, that restrict the body’s natural range of motion. You see achiles problems with women who wear high-heeled shoes often. I think thick-cushioned-running-shoes restrict the range of motion in the same manner. When I was walking up the stairs barefoot, i was using my achiles full range of motion, but it was shrunk trying to recover from the run and snapped like a rubber band.

After a year of experimenting with a heavier trainer-coined running shoe, Adidas Bostons, this year I’m changing back to Mizuno flats which I’d run in injury-free for two years.

I’ve heard once you’ve been injured, though, it’s easy to injure the same area. This year I want to start back at the basics, improve form and technique, and slowly build back into race shape.

I’d also like to mention in this post, in early 2009 i ran a 10k PR of 31:30 on a very hilly course. (note to self, i injured my hamstring the following day)

Lessons I learned from 2009
- take it easy after a race
- train consistently and smart
- run natural in lightweight shoes that don’t impede your stride.

Jeff Galloway: World-Class Athlete, Member of 1972 Olympic Team, Founder of
Galloway Marathon Training Program, monthly columnist for Runner’s World
magazine, Author of 18 books, including the best-selling “Galloway’s Book on
Running” IS COMING TO OKINAWA!

MCCS Health Promotion is proudly sponsoring Jeff over to offer 3
seminars/running clinics in August.

Thursday, Aug. 20: Camp Hansen Theater, 0800-1000
Friday, Aug. 21: Camp Kinser Surfside, 0800-1000
Saturday, Aug. 22: Camp Foster Performing Arts Center, 0830-1030

Aug. 20 & 21 is targeted towards all AD Military personnel as well as civilians.
Focus for these running clinics will include: How to improve on your P.T. test,
Running form/technique, Functional Fitness, Nutrition, Speed & Endurance
Training, Injury Prevention, Motivation/Mental Toughness

Aug. 22 is a Marathon/Half-Marathon Clinic targeted toward all SOFA status
personnel who want to learn more about training for long distance races. Focus
for this clinic will include: Marathon & Half-Marathon Training, Nutrition,
Injury Prevention, How to run until you’re 100!

These events are FREE!!! Jeff has a wealth of knowledge and experience and is a
powerful motivational speaker. You don’t want to miss this! Please pass this on
to everyone you know who might be interested and mark your own calendars to be
there.

Kim
Wellness Director
MCCS Health Promotion
beardk@…

courtesy notice from okinawa multisport.

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/okinawa-multisport/message/9389

This is lining up to be a great race! Wanjiru with his aggressive front running style against former Yamanashi Gakuin University runner, Mogusu, who is three-time champion of Sapporo Half and current course record holder with a time of 59:54. I’ve seen Mogusu run this race before, and he won’t hesitate to challenge Wanjiru. Both of these runners have similar aggressive running styles. Samuel Wanjiru came to Japan as a student to train with the Japanese. He has since lowered the Half Marathon World Record to an astonishing 58:33.

read more about this event…

Multi-Sport club
An inaugural meeting for the Marine Corps Bases Japan Multi-Sport Club is scheduled for Tuesday at noon on the front lawn of Gunners
Gym on Camp Foster. The club is open to all active duty, Department of Defense employees and their families who want to improve their
fitness, find workout partners or learn more about various athletic disciplines. Any interested participants can contact Maj. Joseph Galvin at joseph.galvin@… or Cpl. Thomas Kunish at thomas.kunish@… for more information.

I found an article that gives a good intro to the marathon. No need for me to write any more. Here it is:

Weather fine for Sunday Okinawa Marathon
By: Bill Charles
Date Posted: 2009-02-21
The daddy of all marathons winds its way across Okinawa Sunday, with an estimated 11,000 runners expected to test themselves on the 42.195 kilometer marathon course or on the 10 kilometer course.

Noboru Kubooka, who claimed the men’s title in last year’s Okinawa Marathon, is expected to be back to defend his title, while Okinawa’s Mariko Asato, who won the women’s crown, is expected to do the same. Asato won with a time of 2 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds, while Hiroshima-based Kubooka ran the 26-mile course in 2 hours 25 minutes 12 seconds. Of the 7,678 who ran the 2008 race, 81% finished the grueling course.
click here for the rest of the article…

FreeRun running club exclusive article to be published in Okinawa’s BigCircle magazine.

Big Circle is an authorized publication of the United States Marine Corps. It is published to inform Okinawan community leaders, educators and concerned organizations and persons about U.S. Marine Corps activities on Okinawa and in the region.

http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/BigCircle/BigCircle.html

I ran the 20th leg of the two day event which was the Sunday morning anchor leg. It was a flat course, and the longest leg of the ekiden. Once again, I was on an “ace” leg (an area ran by the best runners of each team), so I was running against some fast guys. The fastest of which were from mainland college teams whom, I guess, are originally from Okinawa.

My leg had a “kuriage” start which happens when the front team is more than 10 minutes ahead of the other teams. When the front team is 10 mins ahead, all teams still waiting for the handoff start together. There were nine of us starting together. The Miyako team was coming in at close to ten minutes, so we would all start on their handoff. Here they come…and…we’re off!

I took the early lead, and led the first 3km. We were going about 3:00 per/km pace. There was one runner on my heels. Everyone else was back-a-ways. My team car hadn’t caught up yet because of the kuriage start. We were in last place. Our fast runners were good to very good, and are slow runners were just really slow. We placed last in several legs that morning which really hurt us overall. Usually the team car would be behind me calling the shots, but the sounds I was hearing was from a second team on my tail.

The Okinawa city runner caught up to me at 3km, and we ran steady at that pace through 7. He then would hold that pace for the remainder of our race, and place second out of all the competitors of that leg. He was a running stud. I’d fell off his pace by just a few seconds, and was about 10 meters behind passing through the 10km split at roughly mid-32 minutes.

The second team on my tail was Tomishiro. This runner, another mainland Japan college stud, tried to pass me several times over the next 30 minutes. I’m not sure how many times he had surged to pass, but each time he would surge on me, I’d stay with him. I would recover easily after the surges, but I didn’t have enough speed to break away from him. I think this is because all my training this cycle has been long distance marathon oriented. Eventually I was handed some warm gel drink which I thought would help, but didn’t at all. It was at this point that he was able to make some distance between us.

My legs were shot. done. out of juice. Until I turned the corner, and saw my wife’s mom cheering for me trying to run with me (i heard how sore she was the days following). “Wow, you run fast!” she would later say. Just up the bend, I turned to the left, and saw my wife and my daughter cheering me on. I could hear their cheers, and it gave me immediate power. I looked up at the team ahead of me, and re-focuesed my efforts. After the next turn was a straighaway, and I would try to catch him there. I thought to myself, “I’ve got at least 4k left. I’ve never made a sprint to the finish with this much ground still to cover.” And in a final effort, I gathered all I had, and went at him.

Steve was just ahead waiting for me to pass by and as I passed I was digging deep. “ARRRHH!!” Steve saw I was going for it, and echoed encouragement from behind. “They’re just up ahead!” “The pack is just up ahead!” “Go, Will, Go!!”

I didn’t catch any of them. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t move any faster. I was hitting my legs like you’d do to make a horse gallop. Even as I covered the final 400 meters, my speed didn’t change as much as my effort did. Next year I want more speed work going into this event. I finished eighth overall which only brought our team up one spot from last for the morning portion of the second day of the 295.4 kilometer ekiden.

20th leg - 17.1 km (10.7 mi). my time 57:23

day 2 morning, ginowan placed 13th

day 2 afternoon, ginowan placed 9th

Ginowan finished 10th overall for this two day event. One place and 2 minutes 45 seconds better than last year. 17:48:08 official time.

overall team times

The pieces are finally coming together. I was so happy to finally be able to race after having done some hard training, and that I was healthy at this race, unlike last year when I ran it with the flu.

Day 1
Woke up at 4am to eat breakfast. I had to meet others on the team at 5am to car pool to our starting points. My sleep had been broken up because my daughter couldn’t sleep. I woke up at 10pm, 1am, 3am, and 4am. None the less, I had a good performance.

I ran the 2nd leg of the ekiden which was stacked with “ace” runners (each team’s fastest runners). The course was 14.2 km (8.875 mi).

Our starter, the Ryudai kid who ran the first leg, was out of shape because he’s been studying for a major exam. He finished twelfth, and came in fighting neck and neck with and beating out the Nakagami runner by a step. Then it was on!

I made some good separation from the Nakagami team, but I still couldn’t see any other teams up ahead. I was at least a full car length in front of Nakagami because I could hear the Ginowan car following close behind me. Each team has a car that follows to support their runner. They are usually equipped with a megaphone, and the coaches talk to the runners for encouragement.

The Nakagami guy caught up to me after about three kilometers (~2mi), and I fought with him through the hills. I spoke with him afterwords, and this guy weighs a slim 52 kilograms (114 lbs). I’ve got 35 pounds on this guy. Anyways, he caught me and we fought it out through the next seven kilometers (~4.4 mi) of rolling hills. He held on through the final hill which was the steepest one, and there my legs locked up. By the time I recovered, he was ahead of me by about ten meters.

I stayed on him after that. We caught and passed one team, and then as we pushed an anaerobic sprint to the hand off area, we could see three more teams up ahead. The next runner on my team caught all of them!

2nd leg - 14.2 km (8.9 mi), my time 47:35

day 1 morning, ginowan placed 7th

day 1 afternoon, ginowan placed 14th

Another year has passed, and time has come once again for the annual Okinawa Isshu Shibu Ekiden Taikai. This event is a 295km, 28 leg, 2 day, relay race, and the prefecture’s premier ekiden event.
An ekiden course is broken up into several stations (eki in japanese means “station”, and den means “transfer”). Each team has one member run per station. A sash is used, “tasuki”, similar to how a batan is used in track &. The runner hands the sash to his teammate at the next transfer station. This event combines track & relays and cross country style team play. Each runner in addition to running for their team’s overall time and place is also timed for their individual station, and awarded accordingly. Each station awards the fastest time called “kukansho” or area award.

Tommy says he’ll be at practice wednesday. we’ll see.

ekiden map

I was gearing up to race for a top spot in Naha Marathon last month (I’d placed 8th in this race in 2006), but I was sent away on business for about four weeks just prior to the marathon. During which time I didn’t get any hard workouts in, and was only running every other day or so. But I can’t say all the hard training I did was for nothing. I’ve gained valuable experience in addition to a growing hunger to race again.

My friend, Thomas Kunish, and I talked about going out with the lead pack, and then pulling out early because neither of us were in shape. We’d talked about using this as a jump start to training for the next marathon, but I didn’t like the idea of starting a race knowing I would drop out early. The day before the marathon I went to pick up my race packet, and I’d remembered last year where I’d signed up, but because I was sick, I didn’t run. I thought to myself, “I’m not sick this year. I have to run.” “I have to at least try.”