My first Marathon

March 7th, 2010 Scott

I did the Okinawa Marathon today. I finished with an official time of 4:02, but the course is 26.5 miles long and my Garmin 310xt says I did 26.2 miles in 4:00:38. I like the Garmin time better. My training partner finished with a 3:48 and a negative split. We stayed together for the first 18 miles and then I started having some difficulty and finally had major difficult the last four miles where I spent more time walking than running. I don’t think I’ve experienced the level of pain I felt in my legs that last five miles ever in my life (and I’ve broken my pelvis in a bicycle race).

It don’t want to ever run a marathon that way again. I do, however, want to run a marathon again and in a such a way that I finish strong. That is the primary difficulty in running a race this long: figuring out a pacing strategy that gets you to the end without leaving too much time out on the road. I certainly was at the wrong end of the stick today for I was on schedule for a 3:45 until mile 18 and then it all fell apart. Aerobically, I felt fine but my legs were sending me pain signals I didn’t know existed. Even more interesting is that they were hurting in completely different ways that they would in my long runs during training preparing for the race. During those runs, my glutes would get very painful followed my my hamstrings. Today, neither of those muscle groups caused any problems. My knees and upper ankles were killing me today. Both IT bands acted up and created a great deal of irritation and I had cramps occur on the outsides of my lower legs above my ankles. I didn’t even know I had a muscle there because it’s never been an issue before during training.

I think the IT band issue cropped up because of my taper the last two weeks. Less running meant less stretching and they tightened up. For me, as long as I consistently stretch my IT bands after runs, they stay happy. Since I was running less, I was stretching less. I’ll remember to do more stretching next time during a major taper like this.

The course had a lot of hills and my training didn’t include any hill work. Consequently, I have some toenails in trouble tonight and I’m sure I’ll end up losing at least two of them.

As for the race itself, the organization and the fans were awesome. The Japanese do an excellent job of organizing sports events like these and this one was no different. Handling 11,000 athletes must be challenging and this organization did a great job. We had timely shuttle busses from the parking areas, clear staging pre-race, and smooth handling of medals and certificates at the conclusion of the race. Within two minutes of passing the finish line, I had a certificate with my name, finish time, active race time, and overall place in the race. They have the data handled very well.

Along the route, a multitude of Okinawans lined the course offering water, tea, brown sugar, salt, otter pops, soba noodles, candies, oranges, lemons, and bananas. The official race support had water every 5k, but there was plenty of water to be had from individuals along the course in between the official areas. Plenty of spray cans of an ‘icy hot’ type material were available for help with sore muscles. Unfortunately, the overspray sometimes would get in your eyes as you ran by and that stung (and not in a good way).

It was mostly fun but I’m looking forward to doing another one that is completely fun.

Posted in Triathlon | No Comments »

I’ve signed up for a marathon

January 25th, 2010 Scott

A few weeks ago, a training buddy of mine invited me to come do my long runs with a group he was forming. They were training for the Okinawa Marathon on March 7, 2010 and were up to 8 – 10 miles at that time. I had been doing 6 – 7 miles on Sundays and thought I’d go try a couple with them. The first one I hit was 10 miles and I had a blast. Primarily because I had no idea how painful the run was since I was busy talking to the other guys the whole time. The entire experience was very much like my Saturday bike rides in that you don’t get bored and focus on the pain when there are other folks around to talk to.

The next week I ran 12 miles and still enjoyed it as well. The next day I signed up to do the marathon with them and a few days after that I had a coach draw up a training plan for me based on my personal best times in the 5k and 10k over the last year and all the triathlon training volume I’ve had.

I now do a 6 mile run at a medium pace, speed work on Thursdays, and the long easy run on Sundays. I fit in the swimming and cycling when I have time and energy. The last few long runs have been 12, 16, 16, and 18 miles respectively. I’ve also started doing a 20 minute ice bath on my legs after each long run. The first dip in is painful, but it really helps the recovery process go more quickly.

Fortunately, I’ve not really had any major injury issues come up. I tightened my laces too tight a few weeks ago in my right shoe and now I have some major tendon irritation on the top of my foot. That was solved with some creative re lacing of the shoe to release the pressure on that zone. The shoe looks funny, but it’s working just fine.

Bottom line is that I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to complete the marathon, but I know that I prefer to ride my bike, and I know I’m better at riding my bike as well.

Maybe an IM tri is the works someday…depending on how this marathon feels when I finish.

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Happy Holidays

December 27th, 2009 Scott

I write this a couple of days after Christmas and hope that everyone had a good holiday. I’ve had a week off from school and am just now starting to feel recovered and have been thinking about getting going on several projects. Some of them are related to school and others are more for fun.

I’ve gone on my long runs with another guy training for a marathon that last two Sundays and I’ve done well on the 10 mile run last week and we did the 11 mile run today in 1:39 (actually 11.5 miles). That’s about 7 mph average which is good enough for a 3:45 marathon pace. Of course, that’s assuming constant speed to the end which is unlikely. Nonetheless, I’m starting to think I could do a marathon. He’s training for one here in early March and I’ve decided I’ll try it with him. Should be interesting and different from my previous bike race or triathlon training. I’ll continue with biking and swimming of course, but the focus will shift to distance running. It should be good for me as long as I stay away from injuries. So far so good on these last two.

At school, I’m co-chairing the lead of the Far East Music Festival this year which means I have a thousand little details to coordinate and take care of before the week of the event (the last week in April). I’ll be happy when I can tie up all the loose ends from that project when we get to May.

At home, I’m trying to catch up on my back log of photo editing from the last few events like the Kyoto trip in November. I’ve also finally gotten all my printer settings dialed in on the new Epson 3880 and my two favorite papers. Upgrading to Snow Leopard was a hiccup in the process, but now everything seems to be working out well and I’ll start churning out some of my newer photos to put up around the house. I’m also firing up a new photo-blog that I’ll post my better shots on to share via the web. This blog is a little different focus so I’ll publish the photo blog at another location. Check back for the link when I get it done.

New Year’s Eve is just around the corner and I hope the new year brings health to everyone. I intend to be more frequent about updating this blog as well as my new photo blog. After living here a couple of years it’s difficult to remember that what seems normal to me will likely still be interesting to people who don’t live here.

Posted in Health and wellness, Sports | No Comments »

Torii Fall Triathlon Results and Review

November 19th, 2009 Scott

Last Sunday, November 15th was the Torii Fall Triathlon. My first ever tri was the Torii Spring Tri in March of 2008. I had heard they usually do two a year but either missed it last fall or they didn’t run it. I’m not sure which. This course was the same as last Spring’s course which was significantly different that my first experience. The swim was 1000m in the ocean (two laps of a 500m U shaped course with a run up the beach between laps), followed by a LONG transition to the bike. We had to jog up the driveway to the gate area. My TI time was around 5:00 minutes and that wasn’t because I was slow getting on the bike; it was mostly the jog to the bike. We rode 8 laps around a course that included the eastern perimeter road, but it cut through the center of the base on the northwestern side rather than following the perimeter road like the first time I did this event. Finally the run was an out and back affair along the northwest perimeter road.

I think I prefer the old course for several reasons:

1. The bike leg was 5 laps instead of 8. It’s challenging to keep track of 5 laps let alone 8. Also, the old course was faster; perhaps a bit more dangerous though.
2. The run leg was three mini out and back loops which gave you three opportunities to gage your progress against your competition. This course only lets you see them once and also is one great big climb and then decent.
3. The long run in T1 is a pain. I didn’t feel it at the time, but my feet were bruised up from that. I could’ve thrown on some shoes but it just isn’t worth the time and you don’t notice the pain while in race mode. I did the next day though.

My results were good. I finished 5th overall, 4th for individuals, 2nd for 40+ age group. I was beat by 17 seconds in my age group. I was about 150m behind Mat Lubbers the entire run. If I’d known that was for first place I might’ve dug in a little harder. However, my training wasn’t race specific leading up to the event and I was just happy to be in such a good position. I figured I should just hold on and keep from blowing up and I had fifth place locked up. Looking back at it, I had some issues in T2 and a slow start to the swim that could’ve easily made up that 17 seconds, but hindsight isn’t very effective race strategy.

This course was the same as last spring so I was able to do some direct comparisons. My swim time was way better and this swim was in big swell and chop. Some people turned around at the first bouy and went back in. The DoD has a system of signals regarding safety for getting in the water. On the morning of the race, it was only one level below condition RED (when nobody is even allowed in the water). The wind and waves made it fairly dicey. Also, the wave action stirred up the sand so there was no visibility a the start, lap, and finish. I hit a rock twice (once during warm up and once in the race) that was only inches below the surface but I couldn’t see it due to the silt. All in all, my swim must be way better. Gina says I was 4th or 5th out of the water.

I rode the bike within 10 seconds of last year’s time, but I did it with much less effort this year. Because hadn’t done any race simulations or bricks leading up to this event, I worried about how my legs would do after the ride so I took it a little easier.

In the run, my calves were twichy for the first kilometer and I worried about cramps. I settled into a comfortable rhythm that had me holding a 4:10 pace at 162bpm. For me, that is very fast at a very low rate. I typically lose a lot of speed in my runs after a hard bike. However, I’ve been focussing on speed work in my run training for the last 3 months or so and I think it’s really starting to pay off. I ran the whole leg under 165 (typical race pace rate for me is 175 – 180) and still ran a 20:15 5k split. In training, I’ve hit 19:15 for 5k on fresh legs and at a much higher rate in training so I’m very pleased with that result. I also have been lifting consistently this fall and that is helping me with my endurance and effort. I’ve gone from 2 pull ups to 10 and my hip flexor work has improved my form in the run even when tired so I’m keeping more efficient to the end of the race. My overall time was within seconds of last spring’s, but my overall effort to get there was easier (except for the swim…I had a much more challenging swim this time as did everyone). That time got me around 10th overall last year and 5th this year. Part of that is because turnout was a little lower, but also part of that was the swim was likely a lot slower for everyone.

We had good weather and the Torii Station MWR folks did a good job of hosting. I usually leave fairly quickly after a race so I missed out on the food. I would’ve stayed if they would’ve mentioned that there would be food. Also, I wish the race brief would come far earlier so we get an opportunity to warm up before starting. Virtually every tri I’ve done wants to do the briefing right at the time I want to be warming up. That’s frustrating because the beginning of the swim is hard enough with a proper warm up. It’s truly intimidating when you are overwhelmed from the sprint start because you couldn’t warm up.

I’m not sure when my next event will be. I found out that Ishigaki is the same day as the start of Far East Music so I’ll be working. I have some time to train and choose something starting next March though.

This was my second event with the Garmin 310xt and it performed very well. Unfortunately, the GPS doesn’t work well in the water. I figured open water swim would track but the water must mess up the timing of the satellites. Also, it’s not quite as accurate with altitude as my 705 (I think it’s calculated rather than pressure based) so the climbing stats in my log are way off. I do like the auto-multi sport feature for the race though. You just hit the lap button at each transition and it automatically knows to go to the next sport in the que.. The display can be programmed specifically for each sport. Currently though, there is a bug that doesn’t allow for auto-lap to function at the same time as multi sport. Too bad because counting those 8 laps on the bike automatically would’ve been nice.

Torii Fall Triathlon Full Results

PLACE	NAME	NUMBER	TIME
Women’sDivision19‐29
1	RachelAnderson	259	1.41:50
2	ElizabethKoch	270	1.46:19
2	KimFerris	169	2.04:37
4	MeganDiaz‐Freed	167	2.11:07
Women’sDivision30‐39
1	SophieKnight	264	1.41:29
2	AprilNoke	236	1.42:19
3	KyokoToyoto	171	1.43:20
4	SatokoKamiya	269	1.49:42
5	AmyStewart	247	2.02:24
Women’sDivision40+
1	TammyDockins	170	2.04:49
Men’sDivision18‐29
1	HayatoAgena	193	1.33:41
2	ChristopherStewart	246	137:08.
3	DanielMeehan	267	1.37:53
4	JunSasakura	202	1.38:00
5	DaivdKilpatrick	249	1.38:22
6	SkylerAltenburg	262	1.39:19
7	EricWilliams	235	1.42:03
8	PrestonGabaldon	220	1.46:39
9	GregCummings	254	1.49:36
10	JordanFiebelkon	255	1.55:47
11	WilliamKelly	248	1.57:52
12	NaokiKawaguchi	229	2.06:20
13	ShinichiroOshiro	238	2.23:40
Men’sDivision30‐39
1	JosephGalvin	256	1.24:50
2	ShingoToume	188	1.27:49
3	JasonSelf	250	1.34:06
4	DarienPedota	251	1.34:51
5	JunichiKinjo	237	1.36:12
6	TakahiroSuzuki	196	1.36:28
7	TakashiYoneyama	201	1.36:38
8	TrevorTesselink	253	1.36:49
9	MikeWhite	230	1.40:43
10	NobuhikoSasaki	219	1.40:52
11	AdamLeggio	233	1.40:59
12	TadashiTomori	222	1.41:50
13	GojiToyohira	239	1.42:00
14	NozomuMiyagi	180	1.42:57
15	ChrisPapson	214	1.43:31
16	TakayaMotonaga	177	1.47:07
17	TakahiroNamizato	206	1.51:13
18	ShotaroMiyanaga	209	1.51:47
19	ChristopherBretana	272	1.52:29
20	MotomaruIha	181	1.53:43
21	BendanBogan	232	1.55:11
22	ChristopherBatemen	258	1.56:35
23	GalyonAjax	216	1.56:39
24	ArnoldRonquillo	215	1.57:06
25	NobuyukiKawagishi	176	1.57:21
26	ShawnGreen	244	1.58:47
27	DavidSilva	173	2.00:17
28	AnthonyOwens	257	2.00:29
29	EricSnodgrass	231	2.03:10
30	JerrySchoonover	211	2.03:19
31	TetsuoOyama	179	2.04:03
32	OsamuHiga	197	2.07:00
33	ShigeyukiShimoji	228	2.12:36
Men’sDivision40+
1	MatLubbers	245	1.30:11
2	ScottMcGlynn	183	1.30:28
3	TTrevorLennard	252	1.33:03
4	MattSeamans	271	1.35:59
5	JohnLabanc	227	1.40:04
6	YasushiMaeda	204	1.41:00
7	MikeGrubbs	241	1.43:55
8	HiroshiSato	187	1.45:21
9	RicoQuispe	263	1.45:44
10	KazuhikoMatsuo	195	1.45:59
11	HiroyukiMotonaga	207	1.46:44
12	HiroyukiOki	208	1.49:22
13	MorihidemOta	226	1.51:46
14	YasuhiroAkamine	199	1.54:04
15	KatsujiChina	223	2.01:34
16	HenryDockins	217	2.02:00
17	SatoshiShimoji	178	2.03:24
18	PetePhipps	261	2.04:04
19	YoshiyasuToyama	242	2.05:11
20	TsulasaMiyazato	191	2.08:20
21	JeffNorman	210	2.09:17
22	KazunoriKomine	174	2.09:59
23	YoshimasaKikuyama	182	2.10:01
24	HitoshiInatomi	266	2.10:40
25	KenBrooks	221	2.12:13
26	ChoshoTeruya	186	2.15:35
27	TomoyukiHamada	184	2.16:11
28	JonathanDelle	240	2.21:57
29	HiroshiUeno	192	2.24:30
TEAM
1	ArakakiTeam	224	1.28:41
2	SakaiTeam	260	1.33:15
3	KlienheinzTeam	243	1.39:00
4	MaynesTeam	225	1.44:23
5	LeggioTeam	234	2.10:59

Posted in Okinawa, Triathlon | No Comments »

A neglected blog…

October 30th, 2009 Scott

Wow. Has it really been a month since my last entry? I’ve been neglecting this blog too much lately. Part of the problem is that I’ve been working many hours with marching band this year. My kids voted to do evening practices twice a week so I spent 3 hours on Tuesday and Thursday nights with marching band rehearsals and 2 more hours on Wednesday nights with the drumline. This year, two percussionists from the Marine Corps Third MEF Band volunteered to help us out and it made a big difference. My band isn’t ready to win any major competitions, but they learned a lot and had a lot of fun. Perhaps we can actually do more than one song next year. My drillwriting was simpler for them to learn, but it wasn’t very visually appealing. I’ll do better next year.

The homecoming game was on Oct 3 and since then I’ve not been as busy, but still neglected the blog. This week Gina and I moved into a house from our apartment. We no longer living within spitting distance of the ocean, but it’s still in the same neighborhood and we can still see the ocean from our dining room window. The cool part is that it is a real HOUSE with a garage. The space feels huge to us after leaving a 1300 square foot apartment and moving into a 2200 square foot house. I no longer hit my elbows on the shower walls.

Triathlon training has been going well. I’m down to 161 pounds and the weight lifting routine is starting to pay off with faster swims at the pool. I don’t get fatigued as quickly and am able to maintain a much better pace through 1000 – 1500 meters. I have my favorite (and first) triathlon coming in a couple of weeks: the Torii Triathlon. This one is a 1000 meter swim, 30k bike, and 5k run. Those distances suit my strengths so I hope to do well. Gina’s roommate from college will be visiting us during that time so she’s going to enter it as well so she can be known as an international triathlete (I suppose a trip to Canada would be easier, but we don’t live there so it wouldn’t be as much fun!).

When she and her husband get here, we are all taking some time to be tourists. We are spending a couple of days in Kyoto which I’ve since found out is THE place in Japan to go for fall colors. I am excited to get the camera gear back out and take some photos. I recently updated my camera (to a Canon 7D) and my printer (to an Epson 3880) so I’m anxious to see what the prints look like from this trip.

First quarter of school ends next week. Even though I say this every year, it still amazes me: first quarter is already over? That went by way too fast. I feel like I’m just starting to get into a groove. It’ll be summer before I know it.

It’s late and I’m tired. I’m off for now, but I promise to get some more interesting stories about Okinawa and Triathlons posted soon. I have to share my experiences with my Garmin 310xt as a traithlon (here’s a hint: it’s good).

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Futenma Tetsujin Triathlon 2009 Results

September 28th, 2009 Scott

Hey, I cut two minutes off my time from last year, but I had trained for a 5k run. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a 10k run again this year. I still did better, but maybe I’ll focus on the right distance next time.

Futenma 2009 Triathlon

10k run + 18k bike + 175m swim

September 27, 2009

— ROAD BIKE —

Place Name Age Gender Time

1 Joseph Galvin 37 M 1:04:58

2 Yoshiyuki Mikami 33 M 1:13:18

3 Kevin Inca 24 M 1:13:42

4 Koji Tokumine 39 M 1:13:46

5 Shingo Toume 31 M 1:14:22

6 Trevor Teeselink 37 M 1:14:27

7 Hiroki Zamami 42 M 1:14:36

8 Hideaki Nakayama 43 M 1:16:05

9 Paul Wilkinson 43 M 1:16:24

10 Trevor Lennard 43 M 1:16:30

11 Rie Tatsumi 40 F 1:17:33

12 Satoshi Nagaoka 51 M 1:17:38

13 Masaru Nakajima 32 M 1:17:38

14 Scott McGlynn 40 M 1:17:48

15 Kevin Avila 37 M 1:18:04

16 Kazumasa Teruya 50 M 1:18:23

17 Tomoki Nakatsuru 36 M 1:18:36

18 Jon Peralta 20 M 1:18:44

19 Darien Pedota 37 M 1:19:05

20 Rachel Anderson 29 F 1:19:06

21 Jon Wolfe 47 M 1:20:31

22 Forrest Poole 38 M 1:20:50

23 Kyoko Toyota 34 F 1:20:54

24 Nozomu Miyagi 34 M 1:20:58

25 Derek Gillette 39 M 1:21:02

26 Matt Mayer 26 M 1:21:09

27 Akira Mezashi 42 M 1:21:15

28 Goji Toyohira 38 M 1:21:55

29 Chris Bateman 33 M 1:22:18

30 Andrew Kingsbury 36 M 1:22:26

31 Tatsuji Wakita 33 M 1:23:13

32 Michael Kerschbaum 27 M 1:23:19

33 Yuki Funakoshi 38 M 1:23:47

34 Tadakatsu Yamada 33 M 1:23:51

35 Preston Gabaldon 20 M 1:24:09

36 Rico Quispe 40 M 1:24:19

37 John LaBanc 54 M 1:24:31

38 Koichi Nakamura 33 M 1:24:49

39 Morihide Ota 41 M 1:24:55

40 Yasunori Kobori 34 M 1:25:01

41 Naoki Yamada 27 M 1:25:38

42 Hideto Nakandakari 33 M 1:25:40

43 Takeshi Shingaki 37 M 1:26:11

44 Yukiko Delatte 46 F 1:26:14

45 Lie Seiko 38 M 1:26:16

46 April Noke 33 F 1:26:25

47 Hayato Nakazato 30 M 1:26:45

48 Mike Grubbs 42 M 1:26:53

49 Sophie Knight 34 F 1:26:59

50 Masafumi Ishigaki 31 M 1:27:04

51 Daniel McKernan 37 M 1:27:08

52 Jeffrey Norris 19 M 1:27:49

53 Robert Shafer 43 M 1:28:08

54 Seiji Matayoshi 44 M 1:28:13

55 Kevin Craig 36 M 1:29:20

56 Marc Austin 26 M 1:29:27

57 Kazumoto Nakama 42 M 1:29:36

58 Giff Bloom 26 M 1:29:54

59 Reuben Jones 28 M 1:29:58

60 Skyler Altenburg 14 M 1:30:03

61 Shinji Kinjo 46 M 1:30:19

62 Tsukasa Kinjo 33 M 1:31:28

63 Kiyotomo Toyama 35 M 1:31:32

64 Sean Hulsey 31 M 1:32:03

65 Kimberly Julka 23 F 1:32:28

66 Ben Pangborn 41 M 1:32:33

67 Anthony Owens 37 M 1:32:47

68 Yoshiyasu Toyama 44 M 1:33:03

69 Aya Enatsu 29 F 1:33:37

70 Toru Nakajima 46 M 1:34:06

71 Todd Marable 29 M 1:34:11

72 Tsukasa Miyazato 40 M 1:34:17

73 Ritsuko Maejima 44 F 1:34:59

74 Takahiro Namizato 37 M 1:35:03

75 Jed Soberal 19 M 1:35:28

76 Nobuyuki Kawagishi 29 M 1:35:41

77 Shinyu Iha 50 M 1:35:41

78 Greg Cummings 23 M 1:36:26

79 Greg Gaudet 26 M 1:36:46

80 Dennis Rice 35 M 1:37:28

81 Lorri Phipps 43 F 1:37:47

82 Holly Gillette 38 F 1:37:56

83 Masato Yonaha 38 M 1:38:05

84 Motomaru Iha 34 M 1:39:14

85 Chinatsu Uezuka 34 F 1:39:52

86 Mitchell Krauss 46 M 1:40:03

87 Satoshi Shimoji 43 M 1:41:26

88 Steve Everett 38 M 1:41:50

89 Kenji Ishikawa 28 M 1:42:02

90 Yasushi Kaneshiro 30 M 1:42:38

91 Fumito Takagi 33 M 1:42:44

92 Tsuyoshi Yamada 35 M 1:43:20

93 Mitsuru Ushiroyama 39 M 1:43:39

94 Michihito Yamauchi 33 M 1:43:54

95 Robert Pellosma 43 M 1:44:39

96 Susie Koza 33 F 1:44:54

97 Naoki Moriyama 42 M 1:46:20

98 Ana Aschenbrenner 36 F 1:46:37

99 Yuichi Tamayama 35 M 1:46:56

100 Sadao Nakamura 59 M 1:47:03

101 Tiffany Powell 40 F 1:48:32

102 Satoshi Miyagi 41 M 1:49:31

103 Donald Delatte 41 M 1:49:46

104 Jeff Brewer 31 M 1:50:54

105 Hitoshi Kume 54 M 1:51:27

106 Masahiro Shimabukuro 39 M 1:51:32

107 Yoshimasa Kikuyama 44 M 1:52:30

108 Kerri Quispe 39 F 1:52:38

109 Jonathan Delle 40 M 1:52:45

110 Henry Dockins 45 M 1:53:23

111 Osamu Wakinaguni 50 M 1:54:25

112 Joseph Bobb 27 M 1:56:07

113 Minoru Oshiro 42 M 2:02:06

114 Taku Sakugawa 32 M 2:07:54

115 Jeff Norman 41 M 2:11:04

116 Fukuei Teruya 51 M 2:11:32

117 Jamie Walsh 28 F 2:11:37

— MOUNTAIN BIKE —

1 Takashi Yoneyama 32 M 1:17:47

2 James Dollard 35 M 1:27:32

3 Benny Volkmann 29 M 1:28:36

4 David Silva 37 M 1:28:58

5 James Calbough 37 M 1:29:40

6 Darrel Nevells 32 M 1:29:49

7 Masahige Yamauchi 54 M 1:31:46

8 Yoshihiro Sata 36 M 1:34:37

9 Brendan Bogan 36 M 1:36:03

10 Brian Phipps 32 M 1:37:29

11 Keita Sunakawa 29 M 1:38:15

12 Jesse Burkleo 22 M 1:38:55

13 Andrew Barron 26 M 1:39:50

14 Yukiyasu Uezato 33 M 1:41:09

15 Nathan Rohn 27 M 1:41:17

16 Ryusuke Kyan 27 M 1:44:29

17 Dylan Pash 34 M 1:46:00

18 Megan Diaz-Freed 28 F 1:46:20

19 Mamoru Unten 44 M 1:57:33

20 Tsutomu Machida 39 M 2:00:10

21 Angela Viers-Costello 36 F 2:01:38

22 Katsunori Taira 40 M 2:03:00

23 Christopher Marsh 24 M 2:03:06

24 Tomohira Sugama 34 M 2:03:24

25 Hiroki Fujihao 26 M 2:03:53

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Kumejima has really big spiders

September 6th, 2009 Scott

Gina and I flew to Kumejima, a small island that’s about a 25 minute flight away to the west of Okinawa. Our Japanese language teacher grew up there and we decided to go visit. It takes about 45 minutes to drive all the way around it at 25 mph and only 10,000 people live there. To say this place is laid back is an understatement. Farming and scuba tourism appear to be the primary industries. There is likely some healthy amounts of fishing happening as well. This morning, we hiked to some waterfalls that flow up when the wind blows. There wasn’t enough water to really get the effect today, but there were some really big banana spiders there. This one pictured was about 10 inches from end to end. Each square in his web was about 1/2 an inch to give you some perspective. His web was about 6 – 8 feet in diameter and would move back and forth some 2 – 3 feet in the wind. This made it challenging to get a picture and also made him float uncomfortably near my camera a couple of times. We had to be careful of a few of his brother’s webs on the walk in and out of the observation area from the parking lot. I’ll have many more cool pictures and details later. Enjoy this one for now:

Posted in Okinawa, Photography, Travel | 2 Comments »

2009 Kinser Triathlon Full Results

August 17th, 2009 Scott

I like this one…finally an age group win!

4th Annual Kinser Triathlon
Overall Finish List
August 16, 2009

5k run + 15k bike + 400m swim

Road Bike
1 Joseph Galvin 37 M 0:50:11.2
2 Shingo Toume 31 M 0:54:15.2
3 Ura Takeshi 26 M 0:54:15.9
4 Koji Tokumine 39 M 0:55:58.0
5 Scott McGlynn 40 M 0:56:05.6
6 Jason Self 34 M 0:56:26.1
7 Shuhei Odoriba 27 M 0:56:35.2
8 Trevor Teeselink 37 M 0:57:20.8
9 Hirokazu Shimoji 28 M 0:57:29.5
10 David Wright 26 M 0:57:51.0
11 Kevin Inca 24 M 0:58:00.0
12 Seth Lewis 30 M 0:58:06.5
13 Rico Quispe 40 M 0:58:11.4
14 Kazuki Nakamine 20 M 0:58:35.5
15 Rui Moriya 21 M 0:59:10.5
16 Paul Wilkinson 43 M 0:59:26.8
17 Kevin Avila 37 M 0:59:31.5
18 Hatsue Yokoya 31 F 0:59:34.5
19 Mat Luebbers 49 M 1:00:10.1
20 Michael McKenzie 31 M 1:00:36.4
21 William Schrader 39 M 1:00:58.7
22 John Labanc 54 M 1:01:16.5
23 Nozom Miyagi 35 M 1:01:17.2
24 Yuto Oshiro 29 M 1:01:34.9
25 Yuichiro Tamaki 39 M 1:01:35.6
26 Derek Gillette 39 M 1:01:40.9
27 Jon Wolfe 47 M 1:01:52.8
28 Rachel Anderson 29 F 1:02:04.8
29 Sakura Kawabata 23 F 1:02:05.3
30 Takashi Yoneyama 32 M 1:02:07.6
31 Goji Toyohira 38 M 1:02:10.2
32 Adam Leggio 33 M 1:02:14.7
33 Yoshinao Koshida 35 M 1:02:21.7
34 Tadashi Kiyokawa 28 M 1:02:28.4
35 Eric Williams 28 M 1:02:37.3
36 Yuuki Funakoshi 38 M 1:02:37.9
37 Kyoko Toyota 34 F 1:02:43.3
38 Tomori Tadashi 36 M 1:02:43.7
39 Toshiaki Fukishima 46 M 1:02:50.2
40 Ermond Dila 28 M 1:03:07.6
41 Skyler Altenburg 14 M 1:03:27.8
42 Sasaki Nobuhiko 34 M 1:03:43.9
43 Hiroki Iha 21 M 1:03:51.7
44 Hiroshi Sato 51 M 1:03:54.5
45 Nakazato Hayato 29 M 1:04:26.0
46 Shunsuke Okamura 24 M 1:04:29.5
47 Forrest Poole 38 M 1:04:35.6
48 Naoki Yamada 26 M 1:04:39.4
49 April Noke 33 F 1:05:04.4
50 Ryan Lathrop 42 M 1:05:41.8
51 Akira Mezashi 42 M 1:05:42.2
52 Aya Enatsu 29 F 1:05:43.1
53 Michael Kerschbaum 27 M 1:05:44.7
54 Mike Conover 39 M 1:05:48.8
55 Osamu Ogimi 30 M 1:05:51.1
56 Brian Vanhoose 31 M 1:05:53.6
57 Tadashi Shingaki 36 M 1:06:08.5
58 Tatsuji Wakita 33 M 1:06:12.2
59 Kiyotaka Hayashi 38 M 1:06:20.8
60 Hidato Nakandakari 33 M 1:06:29.7
61 George Crowley 32 M 1:06:37.9
62 Sophie Knight 34 F 1:06:41.1
63 Takahiro Namizato 37 M 1:07:10.4
64 Jessica Powell 14 F 1:07:27.8
65 Junichi Kinjo 38 M 1:07:31.7
66 Yukiko Delatte 45 F 1:07:59.6
67 Yoshiyasu Toyama 44 M 1:08:25.0
68 Nagayuki Saino 37 M 1:08:41.8
69 Greg Cummings 23 M 1:08:45.5
70 Anthony Owens 37 M 1:08:52.2
71 Manabu Saito 35 M 1:09:03.7
72 Moritaka Nakata 31 M 1:09:14.0
73 Rick Yamashita 53 M 1:09:17.9
74 James Baker 25 M 1:09:31.2
75 Takumi Sato 13 M 1:09:34.7
76 Kazutomo Nakama 42 M 1:09:46.7
77 Jennifer Tucker 25 F 1:09:54.5
78 Jeffrey Norris 19 M 1:10:32.3
79 Chinatsu Uezuka 34 F 1:10:50.3
80 Kevin Craig 36 M 1:10:51.5
81 Mike Wimmer 28 M 1:11:03.2
82 Kiyotomo Toyama 35 M 1:11:04.4
83 Kimberly Julka 23 F 1:11:09.0
84 Brandon Bert 26 M 1:11:10.1
85 Nakao Yoshinori 25 M 1:11:20.4
86 Jed Soberal 19 M 1:11:43.1
87 Dai Yamashiro 20 M 1:11:46.0
88 Haruki Kakazu 19 M 1:12:02.8
89 Yasunori Tokuda 37 M 1:12:11.7
90 Nobuyuki Kawagishi 29 M 1:12:33.1
91 Sean McPherson 40 M 1:12:43.7
92 Jusen Garcia 27 M 1:12:55.8
93 Brian Kline 23 M 1:13:20.7
94 Shinji Kinjo 46 M 1:13:29.1
95 Brandon Lauret 26 M 1:13:36.9
96 George Crosson 25 M 1:13:42.0
97 Yasunori Kobori 34 M 1:13:52.0
98 Mike Short 37 M 1:14:00.9
99 Gabriel Powell 12 M 1:14:08.8
100 Yutaka Higa 44 M 1:14:14.7
101 Douglas Peterson 42 M 1:14:19.7
102 Kentaro Yokota 18 M 1:14:26.7
103 Sadao Nakamura 59 M 1:14:56.0
104 Michihito Yamauchi 33 M 1:15:06.0
105 Tetsuo Oyama 37 M 1:15:09.5
106 Iha Motomaru 34 M 1:15:24.8
107 Yuko Yamada 37 F 1:15:34.7
108 Tetsu Oshiro 43 M 1:15:57.0
109 Shannon Kimminau 31 F 1:15:58.1
110 John Fugate 39 M 1:16:01.5
111 Makoto Yamanishi 32 M 1:16:10.1
112 Okamura Emi 36 F 1:16:14.8
113 Lorri Phipps 43 F 1:17:06.9
114 Jenny Sokol 37 F 1:17:07.4
115 Ikuko Oishi 37 F 1:17:16.3
116 Carrie McKenzie 28 F 1:17:22.8
117 Meagan Quispe 10 F 1:17:38.4
118 Yukino Nagai 15 F 1:17:56.8
119 Mitchell Krauss 46 M 1:18:08.8
120 Kory Aschenbrenner 38 M 1:18:16.3
121 Tsukasa Kinjo 31 M 1:18:19.9
122 Kimberly McDonough 36 F 1:18:43.3
123 Eizo Hanashiro 48 M 1:19:13.9
124 Tomonari Shibata 18 M 1:19:34.6
125 Quetzolcont Jimenez 52 M 1:19:38.6
126 Mark Bonicillo 28 M 1:19:43.7
127 Robert Pellosma 42 M 1:19:47.6
128 Hitoshi Kume 54 M 1:19:59.4
129 Ana Aschenbrenner 36 F 1:20:09.2
130 Yoshimasa Kikuyama 44 M 1:20:14.4
131 Shimabukuro Hiroshi 35 M 1:20:28.6
132 Christine Sheehey 19 F 1:20:44.7
133 Masahiro Shimabukuro 39 M 1:21:04.5
134 Kalo Tovar 23 M 1:21:26.0
135 Christina Butler 26 F 1:21:30.3
136 Michael Butler 25 M 1:21:47.4
137 Tetsuya Kurane 54 M 1:21:57.6
138 Satoshi Shimoji 41 M 1:22:22.3
139 Tomoe Gima 24 F 1:22:40.5
140 Andrew Otero 39 M 1:22:42.7
141 Oshiro Minoru 42 M 1:22:57.8
142 Kenko Yagi 41 M 1:23:06.4
143 Tammy Dockins 47 F 1:23:29.9
144 Tsuyoshi Yomada 34 M 1:23:37.7
145 Henry Dockins 45 M 1:25:22.8
146 Kenji Ishikawa 28 M 1:26:20.9
147 Kerri Quispe 39 F 1:26:25.6
148 Kazuhisa Date 34 M 1:27:01.3
149 Donald Delatte 41 M 1:27:06.0
150 Chosho Teruya 58 M 1:27:33.6
151 Jonathan Delle 40 M 1:28:26.9
152 Yoshisuke Kumasawa 32 M 1:28:35.2
153 Yuichi Tamayama 34 M 1:28:37.6
154 Masayoshi Kikugawa 34 M 1:28:44.1
155 Makoto Higa 37 M 1:29:31.1
156 Misako Shimoji 47 F 1:31:13.5
157 Kazuyuki Nakaema 58 M 1:31:13.8
158 Kazumune Namizato 43 M 1:31:46.8
159 Akihito Kuninaka 29 M 1:33:24.3
160 Justin Hauffe 25 M 1:37:51.5
161 Sofya Galich 24 F 1:40:37.8
162 Tomohira Sugama 34 M 1:43:42.2
163 Christopher Marsh 24 M 1:45:12.7
164 Ryoji Nakazato 29 M 1:59:31.2

Mountain Bike
1 Yoshi Awa 35 M 0:57:56.1
2 Mouze Terazawa 39 M 1:00:45.1
3 Ashley Yaggi 23 F 1:02:56.6
4 Masaru Nakajima 32 M 1:04:47.8
5 Kaname Arakaki 29 M 1:06:26.3
6 Jesse Burkleo 22 M 1:09:36.0
7 Hideki Saito 34 M 1:10:13.2
8 James Calbough 37 M 1:11:37.9
9 Masahige Yamauchi 54 M 1:11:47.0
10 Dillon Garretson 22 M 1:11:51.7
11 George Baker 51 M 1:12:08.1
12 Satoru Tamaki 55 M 1:13:01.9
13 Stuart Mountcastle 27 M 1:13:10.4
14 Andrew Barrow 25 M 1:13:44.7
15 Masafumi Mukayama 49 M 1:14:32.4
16 Michael Skarzynske 20 M 1:15:03.4
17 Mathew Burns 28 M 1:15:20.8
18 Brian Phipps 32 M 1:15:29.0
19 Noriaki Tsubota 50 M 1:15:52.6
20 Yoshihiro Sata 37 M 1:16:03.8
21 Edsel Whitesinger 33 M 1:17:44.9
22 Derek Shea 19 M 1:19:10.5
23 Keita Sunakawa 28 M 1:19:27.4
24 Ian Brady 33 M 1:20:12.2
25 Alex Otero 11 M 1:20:14.0
26 Tomoya Nohara 31 M 1:21:13.0
27 Mathew Pitcher 26 M 1:23:23.8
28 Peter Hutson 39 M 1:23:25.9
29 Jose Mendez 29 M 1:23:46.4
30 Kazunori Komine 54 M 1:23:58.5
31 Amanda Brady 32 F 1:24:29.1
32 Masato Yonaha 38 M 1:28:04.8
33 Miki Arakaki 17 F 1:29:14.8
34 Yasushi Kaneshiro 30 M 1:30:22.3
35 Mamoru Unten 44 M 1:31:50.5
36 Rachael Hensen 15 F 1:32:36.3
37 Tsutomu MacHida 38 M 1:32:47.9
38 Yoshitaka Nakama 50 M 1:33:15.1
39 Katsunori Taira 39 M 1:34:18.8
40 Hiroshi Ueno 40 M 1:34:27.8
41 Isao Higa 40 M 1:38:31.3
42 Rachel Giacobozzi 23 F 2:12:39.5

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How to WIN a triathlon.

August 17th, 2009 Scott

Those of you who follow my blog regularly know that I had post from June this year called “How NOT to win a triathlon”. This post will be a fitting counterpoint and end to the summer as it appears that I’ve got my health issues under control and finally put together a quality race effort. Of course the title gives away the drama of the post, but the details might still be interesting for you to read.

Yesterday was fourth annual Camp Kinser Reverse Triathlon. Many of the Marine Corps bases here on Okinawa host these ‘reverse’ triathlons. They all start with the run, then the bike, and finish in the swimming pool. The pool is the reason for the reverse aspect of the race because starting 200 athletes all at once in a single lane of a pool would be quite chaotic. By reversing the order, the racers are usually spread out quite a bit by the time they hit the pool and that alleviates the potential for crowding.

The race was a 5.2 k run, followed by a 15.5k bike, then 8 laps in a 50m pool (400m total). Kinser is a long skinny base with a section down on the ocean and a section up above on a higher level. The run and bike both climbed a short hill straight away, then the rest of the course was long straight stretches of road among warehouses with the occasional turn to another long straight stretch. The roads were open to traffic but most of the intersections had crossing guards. The run was one lap and the bike was two laps. The transition zone was ideal for the race. It was a long narrow parking lot that paralleled the race course so you entered and one end and exited out the other. The racks were clearly marked and there was plenty of room for gear between the bikes. Overall, this was the best organized MCCS Triathlon I had done.

The race started at 8:00 AM with dead calm air. Normally that would be a good thing, but when that air is 85 degrees and 80% humidity, a little breeze goes a long way for some comfort when running or spectating. That’s a heat index of 97% if you are wondering. Very uncomfortable, but typical August weather here. There were just over 200 racers this year, up quite a bit from previous years. Only the first 100 got tee shirts (I was 106).

My goal was to run as hard as possible, then do whatever I could on the bike. I had done a stand alone 5k two weeks ago at 19:45 without maxing out, but the conditions were less brutal when I ran it at 5:30 AM. At the race, my goal pace was 4:00 minutes per kilometer to end with a 20 minute 5k. My new Garmin 310xt allowed me to see my current pace at any time, and it recorded my pace for each kilometer as I ran. I strived for a negative split so I tried to take it easy at the start. My heart rate for 5k at race intensity is usually maxed out at 175. I was above that before 200m had gone by, but I felt fine so I kept going. My first split was 4:06 with the hill so I was pleased with that. The next three splits were all around 4:12, a little slow but my heart rate was at 178 so I knew that was all I should put in at that point. The people I had been pacing with started falling away after 3k. I was well behind a group of about 20 that pulled away from everyone early on, but I ended up running the last k at 4:05, so I accelerated to the end instead of fading. That was good. I usually fade hard on runs. My heart rate for the final k was 182 and I felt great. Normally 182 is above the redline for me. I finished at 21:22

I tried leaving my bike shoes clipped on to my pedals for the first time in this race. I did practice several mounts and dismounts last week and felt very comfortable doing it. During the race, it worked great. I didn’t have to run in my bike shoes and it was a snap to get my feet into the shoes after getting some speed on the bike. My total transition time was only 60 seconds. That’s a huge bonus in a short race like this to get through that quickly. I’ve since figured out a couple of ways to shave another 10 – 15 seconds off that time.

The bike went well. In the race simulations I had done leading up to the event, I found out that my cycling legs took a while to come around. My first 4 or 5 k typically felt awful, but after that I regained some strength as my legs adjusted. During the race I didn’t notice being heavy at the start of the ride though. I was able to power up the hill and catch up to some of the leaders pretty quickly on the first lap. I didn’t see anyone in front of me on the second lap so I knew that rest of the guys up there were keeping clear of me. I averaged a heart rate of 172 on the bike, which is great for after the run. I typically can’t get that high of a rate on the bike after a swim or run. The race director setup several water stations for the bike leg, but they were all in the middle of straight flat sections. I wasn’t interested in slowing down from 28 mph for a cup of water. They figured out throwing the water on you worked too. However, I found out that a cup of water in the face hurts like hell if you keep your eyes open. After that first one, I closed my eyes for each one after. I’m not sure what my split was because a software bug in the Garmin locked it up during this part of the race and corrupted the data file. Hopefully a firmware update will fix the problem. I know that I had good speed and I didn’t fade either. At the end, I took my feet out of the shoes about 500m before T2 and had a smooth jump off the bike and run back to the rack. I grabbed my googles and ran to the pool to discover three guys all getting in the water right in front of me.  So much for being spread out at the pool.

In the pre race brief, they did tell us to stay to the left side of the lane and pass on the right in the pool. We had to swim 8 laps by going down in one lane, then moving over and coming back in the next. You end up zig zagging through the entire pool this way. The swim has historically been my weakest leg. It’s also the one that is easiest for me to redline on and get freaked out. When you can’t breath and you then can only breath when the stroke lets you, panic can set in quickly. I also have found that my steady, smooth, strong pull technique will often times be faster than when I try to sprint. Today, all my practice time in the pool paid off because I found that immediately I was faster than the three guys in front of me. That’s great, but passing in the pool is tricky; especially when two or three or four of you arrive at the wall together. I was able to rest a bit behind them after the first turn and sprinted around two of them before the second turn. I chased down and passed the next guy after the fourth turn. At the next turn, I looked around the pool to see that the next closest guy was two lanes away so I just settled into a steady rhythm to the finish. I couldn’t believe that I actually passed guys in the pool. I’ve never been faster than someone else in the water. That was exciting.

After finishing, I looked around and didn’t see very many guys in the finish area and it finally occurred to me that I might have had a high finish. Gina confirmed that she thought I was fifth and after looking at the pictures she took, I agreed. This morning I found out from the organizers that I was fifth overall, and first in my division. Regardless of my finish, I was pleased with the race because I finally got everything right. I maxed out my heart rate without blowing up and didn’t fade on any section of the race.

Oh yeah….and I didn’t feel like I was having a stroke during any section of the race. That’s always a bonus

Posted in Military Culture, Triathlon | 2 Comments »

Snorkeling at Okuma

August 4th, 2009 Scott

Gina and I were invited for a weekend at Okuma with a friends of ours. Steve and I rode the 50 miles up to the Okuma Resort (run by the Air Force for DoD personel) while his wife and Gina drove up. Steve and I rode long rides of 40 – 60 miles every morning and Gina and I explored some snorkeling just off of one of the two beautiful beaches there.

Posted in Okinawa, Photography, Sports | No Comments »