Marathon You Can Do It

This is a Guest Blog post from my Friend Khalfan who ran the 2009 Tokyo Marathon. He is a Kenyan teaching in Japan

Tokyo Marathon(My first Marathon)
From Khalfan.

Background:

Actually my main sport has been soccer since when I was 6 years old. But in high school I ran a number of short races like 4 x 100m relay, and 200m.
Although I am from Kenya, running is not seen as cool by city youths. Only these days of running boom, people are kind of noticing the power of running. In my case I felt the power of running when I moved to Japan.

How I fell in Love with running

Last July, my student invited me to run in their 5k by 4 Ekiden, and I was the anchor! I was expecting something like 20 minutes, but to my surprise I ran for 17 minutes 30 seconds(Thanks to my soccer sprints!).

After this I felt like challenging half Marathon in November which went well and was tempted to shot at the Tokyo Marathon. Amazingly, a month before November’s half Marathon, I had only two runs. One 6 Kilometre run which I did in my October vacation in Mombasa and a 16 Kilometre run which I did two days from the race. I was quite poorly prepared, but was surprised to finish in 1 hour 31 minutes.

Tokyo Marathon 2009

Starting line:

I didn’t want to go to the Tokyo Marathon start line as poorly prepared as November. So I started training hard and long, only to get injured and stay out of action all of December and January. The injury was so serious that it forced me to go to an orthopedician. In mid Feb I was back on my feet but was scared to do tough training to avoid another injury. So I went to the start line with confidence but poorly prepared again with only one 25 Kilometre run as my longest run.

Register : Get an Entry To Tokyo marathon : Matter of Luck

I think you already know that Japan is a country of runners, I don’t mean record breakers as we know them but I mean people who love running! That means getting a ticket to the Tokyo Marathon, being the biggest running event in Japan is not a joke! The limit was 30,000 Marathon runners and 5,000 10 Km runners, but there were over 260,000 applicants. Lucky me!

On the starting line I met a few good runners I know since my position was good as I used my 5k results. I was dreaming of an ambitious target time of 2:55 to 3:30 and was planning to run 5k 20 to 21 minutes splits. From my half Marathon experience I knew that my pacing is bad, so I decided to follow a guy who can take me at a 4:10 pace.

When the gun went off, we crawled for about one and a half minute before crossing the start line. My leader Mr. Paddy was quite slow at the first split and we crossed 5k point after 23 minutes. Although I trusted him, I still doubted myself if I can hold such a slower pace for long, so I decided to speed up (A rookies mistake which I knew about!). The reason I sped off was the feeling that I better get tired after covering many Kilometres in a short while than getting tired trying to keep a uniform pace.

The second split 5k to 10k I did it in 21 minutes, 10k to 15k at 22minutes, 15k to 20k at 23 minutes. But my trouble started between 20 to 25 mark. My calf muscles started getting tighter as I approached 24k mark. Remember that is around my longest practice run! I hanged in there and crossed the 25k point in 26 minutes.

The Awesome Spectators of Tokyo marathon

The good thing about Tokyo Marathon is that, there are supporters everywhere, it makes it difficult to even think of quitting. And that is why the finishing percentage might be one of the highest in the world at 97%. Although the idea of quitting started filling my head after 25 mark, I knew that I had to reach 28k mark since that is where someone was waiting for me with my Gel. So I pushed on, telling my brain that after taking the gel I can just quit.

I have heard of people eating Bananas, cookies and bread and other stuff as they run, but I always felt this is very silly since serious runners have no such leisures. Also the idea of run-walking was something I never imagined I could keep up with! But as I approach 28K mark I felt all my energy was sapped out! When I saw the Banana supply, I grabbed a handful of Banana pieces that amount to about two bananas. I took the banana hungrily, drunk lots of water and amino drink, enough to get me to the 28 mark.

At 28 mark I got my gel but since I was so hungry I drunk the gel in few seconds, and was supply less. Luckily just around the corner some supporter offered me a bottle of water, and two more supporters gave me gels. Nevertheless at 29 mark I broke my not walking promise and stopped to stretch and walk. In fact at this point I was thinking of quitting but most of the route had railings and supporters never stopped cheering. That made me feel like I was on the stage, and I started enjoying talking with the supporters in between my runs!

The only thing that helped me on top of the food helping was the medical support around! I knew someone had medical supplies, but I forgot what color jacket volunteers had medical supplies. I stopped a number of them asking, until I found out the volunteers in red jackets had spray that could ease my calf muscles. So with few pit stops, I could manage a decent walk run that saw me cross 30k mark after 32 minutes, 35k mark after 31 minutes, and 40k mark after 33, The last 2ks or so I did them in about 12 minutes and managed to cross the finish line far from my target time after 3 hours 46minutes. The rest is history!

The winner of Tokyo Marathon was a fellow Kenyan – Salim Kipsang, I wished I had asked him to carry my chip for me!

Inspiring Story of a 65 year Old Japanese Marathon Runner

Though a Kenyan won, the real record breaker was a 65 years old Japanese with Bushido(Samurai) spirit – Mr. Akinori Kusuda who ran 52 Marathons in 52 days. Tokyo Marathon was his 52nd!

I just ran my first Marathon and I feel like I need two weeks recovery, I wonder what kind of muscles does Mr. Akinori have!

The run was tough, but really memorable and fun! My next plan is to do more long runs of 30 to 35k and do a couple of 10 ks and half Marathons before attempting another Full Marathon!

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 10K Running, half marathon, Inspiring Stories, Japanese runners, Marathon Running, Training, water

In life, some people choose to grow bolder while others grow older.

This week I read the amazing story of Yoshihisa Hosaka, the 60 year-old Japanese runner turned back the years with a run of sparkling brilliance. Finishing 89th overall in 2:36:30, at the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon on Feb. 1, 2009. Now that is something that makes us forget the global credit crunch! I have known Japan has good senior marathon runners but I didn’t imagine they can be this good.

And this is a photo of Yoshihisa at the finishline

Yoshihisa Hosaka Marathon training plan

According to japan running news the great man trained 30Kms a day!! The dude must have strong muscles and bones!!

He started running at 36 and  at his first marathon he ran a superb 2:31:19.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Inspiring Stories, Japanese runners, Marathon Running, Marathon Training

When I started running one of my first questions was how is the foot supposed to land during running. Was it the heel, mid foot or forefoot? I tried to read around but real evidence was scarce the ideas out there were personal opinion.To be honest I have never found the perfect answer, I try to run with the most comfortable style.

Japanese Elite Runners Running Style

The only scientific report I found was from the science of sport. It was done in 2004 in Japan, and published in 2007 in the Journal of Strength of Conditioning. The full reference, for those interested, is Hasegawa et al., J Strength & Cond., 2007, (21), 888-893

It was performed at the 2004 Sapporro International Half Marathon in Japan. The scientists set up a high speed camera  at the 15km mark of the race, and captured most of the runners coming through. In total, they were able to observe the foot strike of 248 men and 35 women, and characterize them as either heel-strikers, mid-foot or forefoot strikers. They also measured Ground Contact Time at the 15km point.

This was what they found:-

• The vast majority (75%) of the elite runners land on their heel.
• About 1 in 4 (24%) elite runner landed on their mid foot.
• Only four out of 283 runners landed on their fore foot.

The fastest runners?

Non of the four runners who landed on the fore foot finished among the first four.

When the researchers divided the finishers into groups of 50, they started to see something of a change in mid-foot landing as you moved further down the list. In otherwords, there was a higher percentage of midfoot strikers in the first 50 runners than in the second, and then third, and so on.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Japanese runners, Marathon Running, Marathon Training, Runners, Running, training tips

Just before the Beijing Olympics Japanese marathon runner Atsushi Sato was asked by Running times magazine ‘what does a runner need to run well?’

Satos’ answer was “there are three factors an athlete would need to win or run well:

1) You have to be healthy on the start line, with training having gone well, and no little niggles.

2) Having confidence, to feel good about your training, and knowing you have done the work to compete for a medal.

3) The ability to relax going into the race, without feeling the pressure or stress

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Japanese runners, Marathon, Running, Training