The results are posted: http://crossfitokinawa.com/08%20Spring%20Tri%20Results.html

I placed 13th overall and 6th in my division out of 144 individual entries (there were 5 or so teams) and 29 entries in my division. I’ll take it!

2008 Spring Triathlon Race Results

Male A = 18-29 Male B = 30-39 Male C = 40+ Male D = 17-	Female A = 18-29 Female B = 30-39 Female C = 40+ Female D = 17-
Team E = Mixed

#	Place	First	Last	M/F	Category	Race#	Time
1	1st M-B	Shinya	Kinjo	M	B	974	01:21:45	* Top Male
2	2nd M-B	Michael	Johannes	M	B	802	01:22:32
3	3rd M-B	Yoshiyuki	Ana	M	B	928	01:23:06
4		Tsudo	Mitsuhito	M	B	972	01:24:37
5	1st M-A	Ura	Takeshi	M	A	909	01:24:53
6		Yoshiyuki	Mikami	M	B	165	01:26:38
7	2nd M-A	Hajime	Tamashiro	M	A	999	01:27:00
8	3rd M-A	Clint	Gebke	M	A	963	01:27:15
9	1st F-B	Julie	Howell	F	B	925	01:27:28	* Top Female
10	1st M-C	Hiroharu	Ohsaki	M	C	945	01:27:56
11	2nd M-C	Trevor	Lennard	M	C	966	01:28:31
12	3rd M-C	Kazumasa	Teruya	M	C	801	01:29:22
13		Scott	McGlynn	M	B	903	01:29:33
14		Jonathon	Beyer	M	B	990	01:29:39
15		Kimijima	Takurou	M	B	908	01:29:46
16		Abe	Ryosuke	M	B	198	01:29:50
17		Hayto	Agena	M	B	189	01:30:10
18		Lloyd	Crickenberger	M	B	991	01:30:20
19		Ikehara	Kazushi	M	B	178	01:32:10
20		Gonzalo A	Vansquez	M	C	605	01:32:41
21		Koji	Ashiya	M	B	995	01:33:52
22	1st F-A	Meghan	Gebke	F	A	975	01:34:34
23		Nagaoka	Satoshi	M	C	190	01:34:43
24		Geoffrey	Goldstein	M	A	904	01:34:48
25		Jason	Misner	M	B	172	01:34:51
26		Eric	Malinowski	M	B	971	01:35:10
27		Hikaru	Tamashiro	M	A	164	01:35:13
28		Henry	Brezillac	M	B	912	01:35:54
29		Nakada	Hideki	M	B	983	01:35:57
30		Masaru	Nakasma	M	B	913	01:36:31
31		Kazuhiro	Shimoji	M	B	993	01:37:01
32		Taira	Yoshihiro	M	B	181	01:37:07
33		Bryan	Best	M	B	183	01:37:18
34		Jesse	Tait	M	A	939	01:37:22
35		Yogi	Takeshi	M	A	130	01:37:31
36		Kinjo	Junichi	M	B	205	01:37:36
37		Matthew	Yienst	M	B	944	01:37:44
38	2nd F-B	Tatsumi	Rie	F	B	203	01:37:49
39		Nobuhiko	Yoshizato	M	B	163	01:37:54
40		Saito	Hideki	M	B	169	01:37:57
41		Takeshi	Shingaki	M	B	979	01:38:01
42		Tom	Yost	M	A	197	01:38:02
43		Nick	Lazar	M	A	994	01:38:10
44		Odoriba	Shuhei	M	A	208	01:38:29
45	3rd F-B	Roberta	Lenski	F	B	200	01:38:43
46		Shinichi	Minami	M	B	204	01:39:00
47		Motoki	Chinen	M	B	191	01:39:07
48		Kazuya	Ooshiro	M	C	170	01:39:21
49		Toyohira	Goji	M	B	175	01:39:37
50		Jeff M	Brewer	M	B	941	01:40:11
51		Motomaru	Iha	M	B	168	01:40:34
52		Paul	Wilkinson	M	C	606	01:40:43
53		Jay	Durham	M	B	911	01:40:59
54		Kamihashi	Norihiro	M	B	992	01:41:24
55		Yaskitaka	Kanno	M	A	969	01:41:53
56		Hitoshi	Kunne	M	C	937	01:41:54
57		Satosi	Miyagi	M	C	946	01:42:00
58		Kyoko	Toyota	F	B	157	01:42:13
59		David	Weis	M	B	906	01:42:18
60		John	Becker	M	B	967	01:42:48
61		Eric	Williams	M	A	128	01:43:54
62		Takaya	Motonaga	M	B	968	01:44:02
63		Kent	Grubbs	M	B	978	01:44:13
64		Nick	Willloughby	M	B	186	01:44:25
65		Toshiaki	Fukushima	M	C	817	01:44:51
66		Seiko	Rih	M	B	958	01:44:53
67		Shinya	Hanashiro	M	A	924	01:45:13
68		Clayton	Bryant	M	A	182	01:45:22
69	1st M-D	Connor	Lennard	M	D	962	01:45:32
70		Taira	Hajime	M	B	161	01:45:36
71		Ryan	Meskimen	M	B	942	01:45:37
72		Clayton	O’Connor	M	B	159	01:45:41
73	1st F-C	Junko	Gushiken	F	C	196	01:45:45
74	2nd F-A	Aya	Enatsu	F	A	914	01:45:47
75		Ryan	Lathrop	M	C	961	01:45:51
76		Ganaha	Takaki	M	B	207	01:45:54
77		Paul	Hilliard	M	B	927	01:45:55
78		Zamami	Hiroki	M	C	951	01:46:00
79		Timothy	Buckles	M	B	910	01:46:19
80		ED	Morrins	M	C	949	01:47:18
81		Ken	Harinishi	M	A	997	01:47:23
82		Ooe	Takaki	M	B	167	01:47:24
83		Hirofumi	Inoue	M	B	133	01:48:08
84		Seiji	Iha	M	C	930	01:48:22
85		Daniel	Kim	M	A	160	01:48:31
86		Nozomu	Miyagi	M	B	131	01:49:12
87	3rd F-A	Emily	Barton	F	A	902	01:49:22
88		Toshimasa	Matsuda	M	B	129	01:49:32
89		Jason	Thomas	M	A	188	01:49:35
90		Takayuki	Nahamine	M	B	166	01:49:47
91		Jason	Scherden	M	B	989	01:49:58
92	2nd F-C	Eberle	Funches	F	C	611	01:50:38
93	3rd F-C	Yukiko	Noshiro	F	C	955	01:50:47
94		Tomoya	Nohara	M	A	926	01:51:10
95		Toshihiko	Fukumura	M	A	201	01:51:26
96		Tamotsu	Koshiro	M	C	810	01:51:31
97		Kiyoshi	Shiroma	M	B	162	01:52:15
98		Jon	Desotell	M	A	185	01:52:18
99		Kurt	Stahl	M	A	132	01:52:35
100		Masayuki	Ohshiro	M	B	176	01:52:45
101		Kaname	Arakaki	M	A	1000	01:53:37
102		Masako	Okochi	F	B	206	01:53:53
103		Yamaguchi	Moto	M	B	977	01:54:02
104		Mitsugu	Matayoshi	M	B	171	01:55:36
105		Takashi	Yoneyama	M	B	985	01:55:48
106		Mark	Castille	M	A	173	01:56:02
107		Larisa	Castille	F	A	174	01:56:03
108		Ashleigh	Fann	F	B	187	01:56:36
109		Joshua	Miller	M	A	934	01:56:41
110		Noa	Hammer	M	B	179	01:57:52
111		Jill	Kleinheinz	F	C	194	01:58:03
112		Lisa	McKee	F	B	929	01:58:58
113		Christie	Vaulx	F	B	940	01:59:13
114		Miyazato	Hitoshi	M	C	953	01:59:25
115		Masatoshi	Kawanishi	M	C	808	02:00:16
116		Andrew	Krut	M	A	907	02:00:38
117		Johnna	Meskimen	F	B	982	02:00:48
118		Paul	Anderson	M	B	998	02:01:39
119		Brandi	Sellers	F	B	970	02:01:57
120		Gregory	Coleman	M	B	976	02:01:58
121		Tokeshi	Hatsumi	F	C	947	02:02:47
122		Masato	Kise	M	A	932	02:02:55
123		Chester	Stiens	M	B	177	02:03:26
124		Laura	Yost	F	A	199	02:03:27
125		Touketsu	Hanamine	M	A	184	02:03:55
126		Maeda	Takako	F	A	158	02:05:51
127		Uechi	Midori	F	C	202	02:06:41
128		Scott	Bukarau	M	B	933	02:08:17
129		Akihide	Miura	M	C	964	02:09:27
130		Jacob	Good	M	A	943	02:10:09
131		Tracy	Bezner	M	B	988	02:10:44
132		Kathleen	Lennard	F	C	956	02:12:45
133		Hajime	Kawanishi	M	B	180	02:12:50
134	2nd M-D	Zach	Hornberger	M	D	948	02:13:04
135		Tomoko	Kurose	F	C	960	02:13:24
136		Yoshimata	Kikuyama	M	C	193	02:18:17
137		Karl	Easterly	M	A	973	02:21:56
138		Earl	Maupin	M	B	986	02:22:05
139		Crissia	Ramirez	F	A	996	02:26:09
140		Kuniyoshi	Takayuki	M	B	984	02:29:54
141		Momoko	Higa	F	B	134	02:44:22
1	1st Team	Terry	Knowles	E	3	987	01:23:23	* Top Team
	1st Team	Martha	Stanton	E	3	987	01:23:23
	1st Team	Kevin	Taylor	E	3	987	01:23:23
2	2st Team	Masaki	Vechi	E	7	952	01:29:16
	2st Team	Kazuyuki	Serikyaku	E	7	952	01:29:16
	2st Team	Seiyu	Nakasone	E	7	952	01:29:16
3	3rd Team	Jennifer	Lichty	E	8	610	01:32:32
	3rd Team	Keith	Marshall	E	8	610	01:32:32
	3rd Team	Dale	Goetz	E	8	610	01:32:32
4		Cary	Booth	E	4	931	01:33:27
		Jason	Booth	E	4	931	01:33:27
		Brian	Mitchen	E	4	931	01:33:27
5		Ippei	Chibana	E	5	954	01:33:53
		Tuanaki	Furkuhara	E	5	954	01:33:53
		Kazuya	Miyahira	E	5	954	01:33:53
6		Matthew	Fahringer	E	2	950	01:41:33
		Michelle	Lawrence	E	2	950	01:41:33
		Steve	Forjohn	E	2	950	01:41:33
7		Michael	Reyes	E	6	959	01:41:58
		Nathan	Adams	E	6	959	01:41:58
		Mila	French	E	6	959	01:41:58
8		Toubaru	Kiyoshi	E	1	192	01:57:18
		Toubaru	Takeyoshi	E	1	192	01:57:18
		Okuyama	Naoto	E	1	192	01:57:18

First of all, some education for non-cyclists is needed:

Roadie: a road bicyclist, typically seen as a stuck up snob who looks down their nose at all other forms of bicycling — especially triathletes

Tri-Geek: What a roadie calls a triathlete, generally in a derogatory manner.

I started riding seriously in 1992 when I bought my first moutain bike. Several years later after getting a mountain bike tandem and riding it mostly on the road (because tandem mountain biking is just silly), I bought a good, but older road bike and discovered the true joy of speed on the pavement. Step up to years later and I got serious about riding when my summer neighbor in the Oregon Gorge would kick my butt on bike rides during no winds days. Not too big of deal, other than he was 60 years old. That got me motivated that fall and I ended up getting into racing the next spring.

That was two and a half years ago, and I’ve had a broken hip, collarbone, pinky bone, and a seperated shoulder since then from bicycle racing. What started as a healthy obsession had become not so healthy after counting the ambulance runs and the hospital visits. During this time, my training partner did a few races with me but primarily was focussed on becoming a triathlete. He’d rib me about do the tri-geek thing and I’d gently refuse his offers of 1 hour cool down runs after our long rides on the weekends. Much of our training would overlap as one of the disciplines in road racing is the time trial event. The time trial is exactly the same as the bike leg of the triathlon in that it is an individual effort against the clock. Normal road races are NOT individual efforts as the tactics of drafting and team strategy come into play. Rarely does the strongest cyclist win a road race, it is usually the smartest cyclist. In contrast, the time trial is a pure individual effort against the clock. Because of this, time trial bikes are distinctly different that normal road bikes. These bikes, also the same as bikes used by triathletes, have aero-bars and altered geometries to allow body positioning for more aerodynamic efficiency. This is no small matter, the difference in speed for same effort on my road bike vs. my time-trial bike is easily 3 – 5 mph. Multiply that by 30 – 240 minutes of racing and that is significant difference.

Here is a triathlon/time-trial style bike (no..not me…generic picture from wikipedia).

So, after moving to Okinawa, I’ve discovered that there are many more opportunties to race in triathlons than road races. That, in combination with the fact that triathlons are inherently safer due to the non-pack riding aspect of the bike leg (all my bike race accidents were due to collisions in a tight moving pack) caused me to consider doing a triathlon.

The Torii Station Tri is 1k Swim, 30k Bike, 5k Run which is a bit longer than sprint distance (the shortest distance usually run). Due to issues with my knees and lack of motivation for swimming, I didn’t train in those areas nearly as well as I should’ve. I was very worried about the swim leg in the open ocean and dealing with the mob of swimmers kicking and crawling over each other at the turns. The race was scheduled to start at 7:30 AM to coincide with the high tide, so I had to get up pretty early to get there to set up (it was still dark). The weather settled down nicely for the race for the wind had the ocean a mess all week long.

There were 166 entries, with the biggest lot of them in my category (Men 30 – 40), which is usually the most competitive division. There were several Cervelo P3C’s there which indicated some serious competition (that’s a $6000-$7000 bicycle depending on the options). The China Ironman is in two weeks and several people were gearing up for that event, so this short distance wasn’t their main focus. The race didn’t actually start until 8:00 and I was the only person who warmed up on a trainer (sound familiar Brandon?). I set up my two tranisition areas, got into my borrowed wetsuit and waited for the start after a quick warm up swim. My training partners here in Okinawa wished me luck and we were off.

I started on the outside of the swim area to avoid the bulk of the rush to the first turn and ended up going way long there because of it. ‘Drafting’ another swimmer is an effective way to save energy and I found this concept to be much easier to do than I though it would be. I was worried about getting kicked in the face, but it wasn’t too bad. The problem was finding the right set of ‘feet’ to follow. Many people swim in zig zags or are inconsistant with their speed. When you are face down in the water most of the time, it’s really difficult have a good idea of what is going on around you in the water. The main thing was to follow the crowd, not get kicked, and don’t swallow any salt water.

I did the swim in 20:00, right at my average in the pool for 1000m.  I was about 1/3 to 1/2 back in the pack leaving the water. This really shocked me; I know I’m slow and I thought I’d be toward the end. The leaders got out at 14:00. I’d say my swim intensity was like a light jog or an easy recovery bike ride. I know I can go faster with some work in the pool.

The 30k bike leg was made up of five 6k laps on a closed loop. I did each lap at 8:40 until the last lap at 8:55 when I backed off for the run transition. When I racked my bike, there were only 5 bikes in ahead of me. I had a fantastic bike leg, but my right hamstring cramped up on me when I swung my leg over my saddle. That wasn’t a good omen for the run coming up. There’s nothing quite like blowing by people on the bike to make you feel fast. Also, the fastest part of the course was near the transition area and the crowd was all there to watch. It was great to be at top speed for the crowd (32 – 34 mph). I saw one guy on a freeride mountain bike with full knobbie tires and a helmet on backwards. Never see that at a road race.

The 5k run was three short, separate out and backs so you got to see your competition several times. As I started, I saw all five of the guys in front of me and I was only 2:00 or so down on them at that point.

Then my right leg seized. My hamstring and my quad both cramped at the same time which was a nightmare; stretching one caused the other to get worse. It was awful. I had to stop and stretch. Until that point, nobody had passed me on the run. Unfortunately, I had to jog fairly lightly from then on to keep the cramp under control and stop two more times to stretch. I’d been running 21:00 5k’s leading up to the race (even after the bike) and ended up coasting-in in about 25:00 or so for a total time of 1:29:28. My goal was 1:30, so I made that even with the hideous run.

The good news is the best overall time was 1:23, only 6:30 in front of me (and easily 4:00 of that gained on the run). I didn’t get top three, but I was about the 10th person across the line, so I was anywhere from 4th to 10th in my division. I won’t know for sure until middle of the week when they post the results (www.crossfitokinawa.com)

It’s safe to say I likely had the fastest bike split of the day, but I don’t think it was a true 30k,because my avg. speed would’ve been 26.2 mph based on my lap times. I know that in training with similar times, I was averaging 23 mph due to the technical aspects of the course (several tight turns mixed with tons of lapped traffic).

Today, my hamstrings are pretty sore so I think I’ve got some bike fit issues to work on so I can save them more for the run. I guess going slower on the bike would help too

Bottom line is that I did way better than I thought I would competitively, but more importantly, I had a blast. It was a very fun event. I liked the intense competition, but at the same time there were some average joes and families there too which made for a really cool post race environment. They served lunch and gave out door prizes as well.

They don’t do such things at bike races.

So, I’m a tri-geek now…and proud to say it.

Time to order some new toys for the new sport…

The ‘Period of Reflection’ has ended. The charges were dropped for the alleged rape a couple of weekends ago and the restrictions were eased the following Monday. Military folks still have a curfew and can not drink in public establishments, but civilians have no restrictions (even though a civilian dependent of a military person was allegedly caught off base during the ‘period of reflection’ doing drugs with the locals. The Japanese legel system drops the hammer pretty hard on drug offenses. Not good decision making skills there.

 

So, shortly after the period was lifted, I went out to a couple of restauants off base and checked out the local food. I’ve not really done much of  that because I don’t want to do it by myself. Gina gets back in two weeks (March 29) to stay, so we can check it all out together at that time. At any rate, I was asking my riding buddies what the bast place to get tempura would be, and they all said, "Yoshi’s" at the same time. So, that night, Ed and his wife and another couple took me to Yoshi’s. If you are a fan of sushi, perhaps you’ve heard of Yoshi. Apparently, he is very famous in the states and had a couple of restaurants there for a number of years. His place here is covered with pictures of all the famous people he has made sushi for over the years (the biggest one that appears on each wall of the restaurant is Yoshi with a 16 year old Tiger Woods). The restaurant itself is a non descript hole in the wall on a side street that you’d never notice if you weren’t looking for it. There was a line of people out the door when we arrived, but we had reservations. Unfortunately, they were for the Tatami room which is the room with low tables and NO cutout for your legs. Most Japanes restaurants I’ve seen have three styles of tables: Western, Tatami, and Tatami with cutouts. The last version is actually quite comfortable, but imagine sitting at your coffee table on a hard wood floor for two hours and you get the idea of the pain of not having a place to put your legs.

 

Regardless, the food was magnificent. I ordered a combination plate to try a little of everything: Miso soup, Tempura shrimp &  veggies, barbeque white fish, three types of sushimi, marinated asparagus, and a couple of other things I couldn’t identify. All of it was very good and we had a great time:

In the left center of the picture is a tray of 12 pieces of salmon sushi. In the front lower right is a sushi roll that has crab, pumpkin, purple sweet potato, and avocado in it. It was beautiful just to look at. Just to the leftof the water glass in the center looks like pea pods. Those are soybean pods…they were hot and slightly cooked. Really good appetizer. You can see from looking at the far table just how low to the ground the tables are.

 

It seems as though spring has arrived here. The morning temps are around 60 and if it is sunny, it gets to 70 – 75 which feels HOT with all the humidity. In August, and unbearably hot day was 85 degrees. That was nothing back home in Wenatchee, but the humidity sure intensifies the heat.

 

I’ve decided that I don’t hate running so much after all. After consulting with my sister Lynde (physical therapist) and some other runners, I found out that my knee pain was curable and with some specific stretching I’ve managed to keep the knees in good shape. I ran for an hour this morning; I’ve never gone past 33 minutes before and my knees felt great at the end (my legs were exhausted…but that is to be expected). My first triathlon is next Saturday (March 22). It is a 1000 meter open ocean swim, 30k bike, and 5k run. Those distances are longer than a classic ‘sprint’ triathlon, but still shorter than ‘Olympic’ distance. Two other guys I ride with will be doing it as well. One of them, Ed, has done Kona Iron Man twice and Jake, is a runner turned biker who is doing his first tri as well. We’re both intimidated by the ocean swim, but we’ve hit it a couple of times and it’s starting to feel a little bit more reasonable. Yesterday, they marked the course. It is a big box with a bouyed rope the entire way, so you always can be next to a course guide if you need it (or stop and hang on a rope float if you really start losing it). I’m borrowing a tri-specific wetsuit. It’s designed to float your legs and it really does. Between it and the salt water, you can float head out of the water without treading; it’s like wearing a cork. Yesterday’s practice swim was interesting because we had some swell. That’s eried to be swimming in the swell, especially when you can see the bottom and you see how much it’s pushing and pulling you around. It also is a drage when you go to breath and get a mouthful of water instead. Clearing salt water is a drag. Maybe they’ll let me use a snorkel?

 

I’ll be very slow in the swim, but I know I’ll make it. I should be fast on the bike, then I’ll try to hold it together for the run. I ran a 21:04 5k after riding the bike 30k last week and I’m super pleased with that result. If I come close to that in the race, I’ll be happy. I just hope I’m not that last person into T1 (transition from swim to bike). My old training partner from Wenatchee, Brandon Bartell, gave me a welth of information this morning via email that should prove useful. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll give a full race report afterward.

 

School is getting busy. I have huge concert on March 20, then a large group festival on March 27, then I take 16 students to Tokyo in April after spring break to the Far East Honor Music festival. That takes me straight into our May 8th concert and then into graduation band. The rest of the school year is booked and it won’t take long til it’s over. I’m glad Gina will be here soon. We will take spring break to be Okinawa Tourists and do all the toursity stuff we couldn’t do in December when we were both sick and Graycie was still freaked out about the move. She’s doing MUCH better now, as long as I play with her a couple of times a day (although today she could only do 30 minutes of my 60 minute run…another breakthrough for me…I can run further than Graycie now).

 

Well, I’ve got work to do so I’ll wrap up. Til next time!