Trying Hard in Tokyo

Ome Mt Takamizu 30km Trail Race report

I lined up at the 8th Ome Mt Takamizu 30km trail race last Sunday morning feeling slight dehydrated, and with a fuzzy head after a few beers and some stodgy German food the night before with some visiting friends from Osaka. Not ideal preparation for a gruelling race, but I was still fairly confident of doing an good time and getting a PB. Could I go under 2:50 for the first time? My best time was 2:56 and I first did this race with some friends from Saipan in 2003.

At the around the 5km mark I was called as being 42nd, and on the return leg the same oji-san said I was in 48th place. So I was then determined to stay in the top 50. Had thought that I had maintained my position until the finish, but I ended up just outside in 53rd place. Like Yuka says below, the oji-sans on the trail can’t count!! But this was still a 6 minute PB and an improvement of 41 places over last year. As they had added another sneaky hill on the return leg (I was surprised by this, but I have now seen that it was marked on the map that they sent us), I am very happy with the result. Going down hill at high speed over trail is my big weakness. I would get passed then, but I would pick them up again on the hills. Overall this is a great race and is one of my favorites in Japan as it is always nice to get out of the city and straight road running and into the countryside to run trails.

A keen group of ten Namban Renego members fronted up at Ome. Nine were up for the 30km race with one, Yuka-san, doing the 15km. It was a glorious day up in the mountains west of Tokyo, with clear skies and a forecasted temperature of 22C. Conditions were near perfect for trail running with a dry course, but hydration would be very important under the warm conditions. Many opted to carry drinks along with them as there are only three aid stations on trail, one every 5km. The big question that was asked before the race was will our avid trail runner Jay turn up and run? There were rumors going around that he was away on business, but he has a well known habit of turning up for races at the last minute so anything was possible. As it turned out, Jay was in Sydney on race day so he had a good excuse not to turn up. Thanks yet again to Teruyuki, our post race Hanami party organizer, for the nice picnic and for allowing us to use his car to keep our gear in. And thanks also to Yuka for these photos. And also a big thank you to Onishi-san of KFC for putting on a great event again this year.















Last Week's Training
Swim: 4 hours 7,500 meters (3 swims- 3,200 + 2,100 + 2,200)
Bike: 4 hours (2 spins of 60 mins and 1 road ride of 2 hours)
Run: 6 hours (5 runs of 20 + 40 + 70 + 60 + 170 mins) about 66km
Total: 14 hours

This week will be recovery/easy with a focus on the bike. Just as well as my legs are sore from the trail race.

posted by Keren_m @ 9:49 AM