The Ultra long race report is online...

“Fuji 5 Lakes 112km Ultra Challenge”, a lengthy report:

Preface:

I applied for the Fuji 5 Lakes Ultra after finishing my first 100km race last October. I enjoyed the race atmosphere so much that I wanted to do another long run. I picked the Fuji 5 Lakes because of the great views of Mt. Fuji along the course.

Unfortunately, my training didn’t go well in the months before Fuji. Mainly due to some strange knee problems I had to cut down my weekly mileage drastically. The training camp I attended in February was testing my patience, not my endurance since I could not run for most of the time. I resumed the training in March but had to cut my last (and most important!) long run short because I was too exhausted. Needless to say: Fuji 5 Lakes Ultra would be a really difficult one.

Shortcut:

For those of you who like the shortcuts, here are the facts: I finished in 12:37:55. Weather was good, max. 17 C, no rain, some gusty winds. If you want to know the whole story keep on reading.

The Race Report:

Christiane and I arrived on Saturday in the afternoon at Yamanaka-ko. We picked up the race bag and headed to the start area to check out the location. Turned out to be a great location with ample of space. The hotel was just 1km from the start. Many runners stayed at the hotel. They served a great dinner and even offered European style breakfast from 2:30am next morning.

The race consists of three distances: 72km (7:00am start, 600 runners), 100km (5:00am, 950 runners) and 112km (4:30, 400 runners). The whole area is just gorgeous, great for hiking, fishing, swimming, boat cruises and of course: running ;-). Mt. Fuji can be seen from almost everywhere with spectacular views along the course.

On Sunday morning, we arrived around 4am at the start area. It was still dark when the race started. Sun rise began a few minutes before 5am, birds started to sing and we had a spectacular view of Mt. Fuji. All the runners around me took pictures and I had the feeling that I was the only one without a camera!

From the beginning I settled for a 6min pace plus rest time at the aid stations. That would get me to the finish in 11h30min if I could keep running till the end. The top runners of the 100k race passed me at the 20k mark. They ran a 4:15/km pace, really fast! I had water and food at each aid station but they served only sweets and other processed food in the first half. Not really great, Kubikino did much better! At 42k I felt OK, but I could already sense the missing training miles. First big aid station was at the 49km point. Christiane was there and cheered me up. I decided to stay with the long sleeve shirt because it was not that warm and I didn’t want to risk a sun burn. Took a bottle of Calpis with me. Later it turned out to be very bad for my stomach L. Shortly after, I saw a car driving by closely and people cheering: “Go, Joachim, Go”. It didn’t make sense to me. Then, I recognized Geraldine, Kiki, Leng Leng, Satohi and Taeko (alphabetic order, don’t remember who I saw first!). The car stopped and I said to them: “What a coincidence, what are you doing here?!” I just didn’t imagine that they came all the way from Tokyo to cheer…! Geraldine had offered her car for the trip. What a great surprise. I had my own team of “Cheerleaders” from now on! And it was so terrific. The other runners envied me for the NAMBAN cheering team. I got a lot of positive energy from them. The next big aid station came around 70km. Christiane was there and I told here about the NAMBAN cheering squad. They met and cheered together later. But before that, I had to go through a really rough time. From 70k to 80k, we had to circle lake Motosu. There was only one aid station at km75. Few km later, I started feeling dehydrated and really, really bad. Had to walk a few times but could continue running after a short while. I thought: “Still I have another Marathon ahead of me and I am already exhausted, how to do that?” At that point, I was about to retire. But, there was no one to turn in my BIB no., no bus to hop on, no shoulder to lean on. I had to continue running, no matter what. The aid station was at km79 and I rested for a few minutes. All chairs were taken and some runners were lying on the ground. I didn’t want to do the same so I continued to run. For some odd reason, I could run the following uphill section (from 85k to 92k) steadily and felt my energy was coming back. At 87km, all NAMBAN ladies, including Christiane, waited for me and gave me a big “Du schaffst es” (“you’ll make it”). What a great support! I saw Toshi-san at the 100km mark. He is a friend of Chiba-san and works for Champion Chip Timing. Tried to smile at him and he wished me good luck.

Some kilometers later, my energy level was getting low again and finally the Calpis worked my stomach. Stupid me, I should have known better than that!

I had to start walking because otherwise I would have thrown up (which I didn’t want). I thought about Uta Pippig who ran into stomach problems during Boston Marathon. She kept on running, threw up and finally won the race. Well, that probably seperates us Boys from the real WoMen…

There is a steep uphill section from km103 to km110, which everybody walked around me, so I didn’t feel too bad. Satohi joined me partly on that stretch, which was a big help. I could resume running for the final 2k and the NAMBAN supporters joined my gentle jog to the finish area. I finished in 12:37:55. That’s not a great time but I am happy with the result under the given circumstances. We went to an Onzen and the hot water felt great. Afterwards, we had some food and beer at a German Beer Brewery. Very delicious! Thank you all for your great support. I think that the Ultra is a great running experience. To have some fun, it is better to train properly. A minimum of 100km/week is advised. If you do less (like I did this time), it’s like running a Marathon on a 40k/week training. Can be done, but it’s not that great of an experience ;-) For all of you who are thinking about an Ultra: the 72km race is highly recommended. The course covers all the great spots of this part of Japan. Thanks for reading this lengthy report.