This is not actually about Tokyo Marathon, but it is about Tokyo. Can you see the little map I added to the side bar? You can zoom and scroll around with it there, but if you click on the link "Tokyo Running Resources" it opens another page to the full site. Let me know if there is anything you'd like added. I can also upload photos for a location, so feel free to send them along as well.
While I was at it I added a countdown to Tokyo Marathon...just six days to go...
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Pre-race Carbo Loading
There is a good and reasonably priced Chinese restaurant called Benitora in LaQua across the street from Tokyo Dome and they will take a booking for up to about 15 people for our dinner Friday night after picking up our race numbers. Judging from the response to my earlier blog, that should be plenty of space.
http://www.laqua.jp/rest/detail_rest.jsp?restaurantID=RE20030228102
Please respond here (with your name), and/or reply to my message to the email list as soon as possible if you intend to join. There are a other good restaurants nearby also, so if we do go over the 15 person limit we should be able to work something out.
Date: Friday 16th
Time: 8:30pm
( If people are interested in Onsen relaxation at LaQua after that, it is just upstairs from the restaurant so you can just go after dinner. No bookings are necessary. Baths include outdoor onsen, cold baths, sauna etc. Price is about 2500yen. )
Ryan
http://www.laqua.jp/rest/detail_rest.jsp?restaurantID=RE20030228102
Please respond here (with your name), and/or reply to my message to the email list as soon as possible if you intend to join. There are a other good restaurants nearby also, so if we do go over the 15 person limit we should be able to work something out.
Date: Friday 16th
Time: 8:30pm
( If people are interested in Onsen relaxation at LaQua after that, it is just upstairs from the restaurant so you can just go after dinner. No bookings are necessary. Baths include outdoor onsen, cold baths, sauna etc. Price is about 2500yen. )
Ryan
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Expected Times
...and here it is in order of time:
| NAME | TIME |
| Brett | 2:29:00 |
| Greg | 2:42:30 |
| Yoshida K | 2:45 |
| Martin V | 3:00 |
| Steve | 3:00 |
| Jay | 3:05 |
| Mika T | 3:05:35 |
| Chris | 3:08 |
| David | 3:08 |
| Anthony | 3:10 |
| Bob | 3:10 |
| Colin | 3:10 |
| Ingo | 3:10 |
| Stuart | 3:10 |
| Terry | 3:10 |
| Adam B | 3:10:00 |
| Adam Y | 3:15 |
| Rie | 3:15 |
| Matthias | 3:20 |
| Chika | 3:25 |
| Okazaki K | 3:25 |
| Akira | 3:30 |
| Carol | 3:30 |
| Gareth | 3:30 |
| Gary E | 3:30 |
| Jason | 3:30 |
| Keren | 3:30 |
| Paddy | 3:30 |
| Shiba | 3:30 |
| Peter A | 3:30:00 |
| Mika K | 3:34 |
| Tom | 3:35 |
| Gary C | 3:40 |
| Mary | 3:40 |
| Jaynie | 3:45 |
| Katakura | 3:45 |
| Frank | 4:00 |
| Grainne | 4:00 |
| Phil | 4:00 |
| Renald | 4:00 |
| Sally | 4:00 |
| Yuka | 4:00 |
| Chiba | 4:15 |
| Dayan | 4:15 |
| Luke | 5:00 |
| Yumiko | Finish! |
| Gordon | |
| Paul | |
| Philippe | |
| Taeko | |
| Taro | |
| Yasuko |
Friday, February 9, 2007
The Tokyo List
Gareth says:
I have here a list of people who will run Tokyo marathon. With times. For your information, entertainment and speculation. Speaking of which, a fair few of these projections look a bit soft to me. Any comments? (I know the names and times are a bit jammed together, but that's the software, not me.)
I HAVE AMENDED THIS. For some reason, the first posting dropped everybody after Matthias. I hope it now covers everyone.
Adam B 3:10
Adam Y 3:15
Akira 3:30
Anthony 3:10
Bob 3:10
Brett 2:29
Carol 3:30
Chiba 4:15
Chika 3:25
Chris 3:08
Colin 3:10
David 3:08
Dayan 4:15
Frank 4:00
Gareth 3:30
Gary C 3:40
Gary E 3:30
Gordon
Grainne 4:00
Greg 2:42:30
Ingo 3:10
Jason 3:30
Jay 3:05
Jaynie 3:45
Katakura 3:45
Keren 3:30
Luke 5:00
Mary 3:40
Martin V 3:00
Matthias 3:20
Mika K 3:34
Mika T 3:05:35
Okazaki K
Paddy 3:25
Paul
Peter A 3:30
Phil 4:00
Philippe
Renald 4:00
Rie
Sally 4:00
Shiba 3:30
Steve 3:00
Stuart 3:10
Taeko
Taro
Terry 3:10
Tom 3:35
Yasuko
Yoshida K 2:45
Yuka 4:00
Yumiko Finish!
I have here a list of people who will run Tokyo marathon. With times. For your information, entertainment and speculation. Speaking of which, a fair few of these projections look a bit soft to me. Any comments? (I know the names and times are a bit jammed together, but that's the software, not me.)
I HAVE AMENDED THIS. For some reason, the first posting dropped everybody after Matthias. I hope it now covers everyone.
Adam B 3:10
Adam Y 3:15
Akira 3:30
Anthony 3:10
Bob 3:10
Brett 2:29
Carol 3:30
Chiba 4:15
Chika 3:25
Chris 3:08
Colin 3:10
David 3:08
Dayan 4:15
Frank 4:00
Gareth 3:30
Gary C 3:40
Gary E 3:30
Gordon
Grainne 4:00
Greg 2:42:30
Ingo 3:10
Jason 3:30
Jay 3:05
Jaynie 3:45
Katakura 3:45
Keren 3:30
Luke 5:00
Mary 3:40
Martin V 3:00
Matthias 3:20
Mika K 3:34
Mika T 3:05:35
Okazaki K
Paddy 3:25
Paul
Peter A 3:30
Phil 4:00
Philippe
Renald 4:00
Rie
Sally 4:00
Shiba 3:30
Steve 3:00
Stuart 3:10
Taeko
Taro
Terry 3:10
Tom 3:35
Yasuko
Yoshida K 2:45
Yuka 4:00
Yumiko Finish!
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Why I'm feeling upbeat about Tokyo Marathon
I do this heart rate test procedure to track my fitness. I run from my home in Meguro to Komazawa Park, coming into the park at the bottom of the course, and run one lap -- all this at moderate warm up pace. Then on the second lap I accelerate up the hill and get my heart rate up to 149 bpm, that's 80% of my maximum heart rate. By the start of the third lap I should be close to 149 and then I do my best to hold it at 149 for the whole lap. It can drift up and down slightly with the hills, but I always manage to average 149 for the lap. As a measure of fitness, I look at what pace I ran the lap in. This chart shows my records for each time I ran the test since last summer. There are a few gaps there where I didn't do the test, during the summer idle and after Ohtawara. The most interesting thing is that just before Ohtawara, the test gave me a pace of a bit less than 4:15/km. I subsequently ran 3:04 at Ohtawara.Over the past four weeks I have finally been able to get some niggling injuries under control and ran some very good quality workouts, especially the long hard aerobic workouts in Yoyogi Park on Wednesdays, mostly with Adam. I clocked up 450 km in January; not huge mileage, but solid, and a high proportion of it of good quality. You can see the effect of this period of training on my aerobic system as my pace for the test lap has fallen from 4:20/km at the start of January to just over 4:00/km this week.
What will all this mean for Tokyo? Well, I do feel that I am missing a few long runs due to the injuries hampering me through December, and the interference of the Shibuya Ekiden and Shinjuku Half, so perhaps my endurance won't be as good as it should be. But on the other hand, running at 4:15/km (3-hour marathon pace) should not present any problems for at least 20 to 25 km. After that it is anybody's guess. But I do appear to be in better shape than I was at Ohtawara soI will be a little disappointed if I don't break three hours on February 18.
But regardless of anything, it is really going to be such a buzz just being part of the excitement on the day. Running a good time will be a bonus, but it does now at least seem possible.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Tale of the Taper
During my first post-Ome run yesterday, which delivered excruciating pain to my quads with every step, I started contemplating The Taper. I came up with more questions than answers. Obviously, the short answer is that it's a gradual reduction in training distance and intensity to allow your muscles to rest and recover for the intense punishment of a marathon. However, what's most effective way to taper? Should you eliminate all runs, of say, more than 10K? Is it OK to do a 2o or 25k run at an easy pace during your taper? How about tempo runs and intervals? How hard should you tax your body? Can you taper too much? I'm always afraid of losing my intensity during a taper. What do the experts think?
Monday, February 5, 2007
Carbs during race
I have recently read four articles that talk about the importance of taking in carbohydrates during a marathon. It seems like it is not just important, it is a major factor determining whether you have a good or poor race (that is, how you feel the last hour of the race.
The carbs that you have loaded in the previous days and on the race morning are expended after 90 minutes of running. So you have to take in more. As well as more liquid. Actually, you can't take in as much carbs as you are burning (as much as 200g per hour) but you should try to take in 30-60g per hour. Unfortunately, this is as much as your stomach can handle. The thing is, some people can handle 30 and some people can handle 60, so you really should experiment before the race. Also, practice helps you to be able to handle more.
One Weider Energy gel has 45g of carbs. One Fightman Energy gel has 46g. I tried carrying a Weider gel last sunday on my long run and drank it between 20 and 25k. It worked fine (thanks for the suggestion, Mika). Not particularly troublesome to carry and easy to drink. Also they have a cap so you can drink a bit at a time. Carbo Shotz (available at Art Sports) have 29.8g. They are easier to carry (thin so you can stick them in your shorts) but harder to drink (thick and gooey and no cap, you should drink water from an aid station together or just after...your stomach cannot handle 30g of carbs all at once).
I will probably carry one Energy gel and two carbo shotz. (I will also carry some candy (glucose...high glycemic index for fast absorption by the body) although chocolate will be available at some aid stations, this was written in Courir, which I will also eat.)
The other way to take in carbs is via a sports drink. Ideally you want about 25g per 500ml, but most Japanese drinks have much less. Pocari Sweat has 6.7, I think it is. Of course, you are getting liquid as well. So not much carbs, but better than water. Again, you should experiment with your drink before the race.
Which brings us to the important point of...what will be the sports drink at the Tokyo Marathon? Does anyone know? I mentioned Pocari Sweat because Otsuka Seiyaku is one of the marathon sponsors, so I am guessing that PS will be the drink at the aid stations. I hope it is. It is drinkable and has the carbs and has some minerals, which is also good.
In summary, you should drink small amounts frequently after the race starts, and take in carbs, as much as you can handle, after 90 minutes. Oh, and eat a high carb breakfast: cereal or oatmeal or bagel or rice or guess what? instant noodles (low glycemic index for longer absorption by the body) and sports drink. Some people say a banana is also good, some say it is not so easily digested. I will stick with oatmeal. Again, you should experiment before the race.
Bob
The carbs that you have loaded in the previous days and on the race morning are expended after 90 minutes of running. So you have to take in more. As well as more liquid. Actually, you can't take in as much carbs as you are burning (as much as 200g per hour) but you should try to take in 30-60g per hour. Unfortunately, this is as much as your stomach can handle. The thing is, some people can handle 30 and some people can handle 60, so you really should experiment before the race. Also, practice helps you to be able to handle more.
One Weider Energy gel has 45g of carbs. One Fightman Energy gel has 46g. I tried carrying a Weider gel last sunday on my long run and drank it between 20 and 25k. It worked fine (thanks for the suggestion, Mika). Not particularly troublesome to carry and easy to drink. Also they have a cap so you can drink a bit at a time. Carbo Shotz (available at Art Sports) have 29.8g. They are easier to carry (thin so you can stick them in your shorts) but harder to drink (thick and gooey and no cap, you should drink water from an aid station together or just after...your stomach cannot handle 30g of carbs all at once).
I will probably carry one Energy gel and two carbo shotz. (I will also carry some candy (glucose...high glycemic index for fast absorption by the body) although chocolate will be available at some aid stations, this was written in Courir, which I will also eat.)
The other way to take in carbs is via a sports drink. Ideally you want about 25g per 500ml, but most Japanese drinks have much less. Pocari Sweat has 6.7, I think it is. Of course, you are getting liquid as well. So not much carbs, but better than water. Again, you should experiment with your drink before the race.
Which brings us to the important point of...what will be the sports drink at the Tokyo Marathon? Does anyone know? I mentioned Pocari Sweat because Otsuka Seiyaku is one of the marathon sponsors, so I am guessing that PS will be the drink at the aid stations. I hope it is. It is drinkable and has the carbs and has some minerals, which is also good.
In summary, you should drink small amounts frequently after the race starts, and take in carbs, as much as you can handle, after 90 minutes. Oh, and eat a high carb breakfast: cereal or oatmeal or bagel or rice or guess what? instant noodles (low glycemic index for longer absorption by the body) and sports drink. Some people say a banana is also good, some say it is not so easily digested. I will stick with oatmeal. Again, you should experiment before the race.
Bob
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