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Today Nov 2018

Yep, that's the conventional wisdom, and I definitely understand why (who wants to feel like a 'failure' after running a friggen' marathon, right?)

But - I find it easier to keep pushing if I have some sort of goal to work for. If 'just finish' is my only goal, I'm probably not mentally strong enough to keep running - 'I can walk, just finishing is fine'. Finishing was my 'A' goal, and a target time was my 'B' goal. Kept me pushing to the end.
I agree. I had a goal to finish my first, but a target/reasonable expectation. If i missed it, it was ok just as ling as i finished. 4:30 was the target. 4:17 was the time and it sucked physically. 4:03 on my next attempt, but the goal was just to beat my prior time. I also felt much better the entire race and post race. After the fact i knew i had more in me, but no regrets.
 
Not cycling related, but I did the Fuji Marathon yesterday. My first marathon, and my first run over 30km.
The weather was pretty much perfect. A bit chilly at the start but warmed up nicely fairly quickly. The scenery was stunning.
The course itself is mostly flat...except for a big tabletop in the middle. I quickly realized that the lack of any major hills near where I live had failed to prepare me for a long uphill drag. Muscles I wasn't used to using started barking, and I was hobbled quite a bit the last 10k or so. Finished 30 minutes or so outside my target time, but well inside the cut-off time. While the last half was a bit of a struggle, the first half in particular was amazing, and the support from the locals was fantastic. Definitely planning on doing another marathon, although I think I'll target one with a slighly flatter course...

And numbers for the day:
42.2km and 518m of climbing

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I would say that your struggle in the last 10km was more down to you never having run that far before and your body not being used to that distance. In my first marathon I followed a training plan that saw me a max of 36km in training. I also died in the last 10km. The next marathon I decided to throw that plan out the window and do max around 50 to 55km. I found the latter stages of the marathon much much easier in my second and third marathons.
I still managed to accomplish my goal A and B in my first marathon but only by 6 and 30 seconds respectively 😬.

Well done on getting around. Running 42km I a long way.
 
I was aiming to beat 5 hours, based on multiple half-marathon distance runs of 2:15-2:20. Ended up at 5:37. I wasn't really all that fatigued, all things considered; I kept waiting to 'hit the wall' that people talk about, and it never really came, other than the sudden tightness (cramps?) in my hamstrings at the 23km mark. I've done multiple long runs of 25km+ at faster pacing (and without proper hydration etc) in training with zero ill effects, so the legs starting to go at the 23km mark on a fully supported race at slower pacing was almost certainly due to the hill.

Friend of mine recommends parking garages as places to good spots to practice hill climbs LOL.
 
I was aiming to beat 5 hours, based on multiple half-marathon distance runs of 2:15-2:20. Ended up at 5:37. I wasn't really all that fatigued, all things considered; I kept waiting to 'hit the wall' that people talk about, and it never really came, other than the sudden tightness (cramps?) in my hamstrings at the 23km mark. I've done multiple long runs of 25km+ at faster pacing (and without proper hydration etc) in training with zero ill effects, so the legs starting to go at the 23km mark on a fully supported race at slower pacing was almost certainly due to the hill.

Friend of mine recommends parking garages as places to good spots to practice hill climbs LOL.
Ah ok. I misinterpreted what you said. I thought you meant you hit the wall with 10km to go. Didn't realise you meant cramps from 23km. Bet that was fun 😜.

I know that wall very well indeed. I hit it just before 30km on my first marathon. Was awful. In hindsight I started off way too fast and paid for it at the end. Don't think I've ever run so slowly in all my life as the last few Km in that race. Pacing and getting your body accustomed to what it will be put through on race day are vital. I'm far from an expert marathon runner but by my third one (and last to date) the final two kilometres of the race were my fastest two and I felt great whilst running at that pace.

Any ideas what your next marathon will be?
 
Ah ok. I misinterpreted what you said. I thought you meant you hit the wall with 10km to go. Didn't realise you meant cramps from 23km. Bet that was fun 😜.

I know that wall very well indeed. I hit it just before 30km on my first marathon. Was awful. In hindsight I started off way too fast and paid for it at the end. Don't think I've ever run so slowly in all my life as the last few Km in that race. Pacing and getting your body accustomed to what it will be put through on race day are vital. I'm far from an expert marathon runner but by my third one (and last to date) the final two kilometres of the race were my fastest two and I felt great whilst running at that pace.

Any ideas what your next marathon will be?
I'm not even sure if it was cramps - I've cramped before playing tennis (long match in terrible heat) and this wasn't quite that bad...but close. I actually felt slightly better towards the end, and the last two km were the second-fastest two km of the entire race. Bit of a bummer really, I had the stamina to go faster, just not the leg fitness. Definitely want to get back and do another one as 'revenge', so to speak.

I'm debating the Hitech marathon on 13 January and/or the Koga Hanamomo marathon on 10 March.
The 13 Jan one is on my list because it might not be run again, usually it's a half-marathon event, that this year they're doing a full marathon event because it's the 20th anniversary. The Koga Hanamomo marathon appears to be a popular event and the weather should be nice that time of year.
 
My first marathon I suffered from cramps, but also these crazy "stingers" in the legs. Almost an electric feeling shooting through my legs. Again... awful.
I did my second marathon just to prove to myself a marathon should not hurt so bad. And in all honestly, it didn't. The second one was significantly better in time and how I felt after. I followed a Hal Higdon training schedule for both.

You can look to the Shonan Marathon for a flat course.
http://www.shonan-kokusai.jp/13th/index.html
 
@bloaker There is a pretty strong biking community around Bloomington and the trails in the Hoosier Nat. Forest have "Bloaker" written all over them. Well worth if if you get the chance.

Didn't Dennis Quaid do some riding around there once? ;)
 
I'm off next Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday if anyone fancies joining me for a ride one of those days. I thought Hanno or Chichibu but I'm flexible about routes and distance and stuff. Anyway, PM me if you're interested and we can try and work something out. Oh, I don't have a Rinko bag so I can't train it back from somewhere.

Talking of rides, I'm keen to do the Nichitsu ghost town route at some point but @leicaman mentioned that he'd heard the tunnel might be closed (landslide maybe) or something like that. Does anyone have any further updates on that route? I did notice that people had been up the climb segment on Strava as of 4th November.

One final thing, who can I speak to about road closures and the like? Do I just call the Shiyakusho from whatever area I'm interested in and take it from there or is there a website I can check (Japanese, within reason, is ok)?

Stu
 
@stu_kawagoe - get a mountain bike, then no road is closed! :D
On the subject of mountain bikes, I read they finished this recently. Totally mental but so cool to ride! Would anything even remotely compare to that in Japan?

Edit - this is a nice article about the kind of rig needed to tackle the monster!
 
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Talking of rides, I'm keen to do the Nichitsu ghost town route at some point but @leicaman mentioned that he'd heard the tunnel might be closed (landslide maybe) or something like that. Does anyone have any further updates on that route? I did notice that people had been up the climb segment on Strava as of 4th November.

I last spoke to the guys in charge of prefectural roads in Chichibu on the phone at the beginning of the month. I also cycled to the first of the tunnels that was closed: Construction workers were just leaving at the end of their shift then.

It's not a land slide but unsafe tunnels. On a previous call I was told that bits had been falling off the ceilings, that they were not safe to drive through. I guess they don't want to be responsible if anything happens. The first stage was to assess the amount of damage and how to repair, after that they would start the repair proper.

Based on the fact that 4 weeks ago I was told there still was no date in sight for the completion of the tunnel repairs for which the tunnels were closed this summer, I don't really expect them to reopen before some time in the spring. On the other hand, when there are no workers around on a Sunday I imagine it may be quite possible to sneak through (I don't know what barriers (if any) are in place after the road block before the first tunnel) and unless bits of concrete happen to land on you and your bike as you head through, you may still be able to strava up the valley, but... YMMV.
 
Thanks for taking the time to reply to my question @joewein. I think I'll give that route a miss until the tunnel reopens. As I said in my previous message, I thought it might be up and running again as there was some activity on Strava, but that might be people taking a chance going through the tunnel, which is something I'm not keen to do. My next goal is to do a 250km day ride (which was one of the reasons I was interested in the Nichitsu route) but I'll start looking around for something else now. All very exciting but I'm beginning to realise I need to consider the logistics/safety implications of these rides in a bit more detail, particularly when heading out solo. Thanks again, Joe.
 
This morning was nice!
Just a short ride with my buddies, but I peeled off to get home to hang out with the family.

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