London Marathon 2007

It may be an old news, but hey, I ran Flora London Marathon, too!

I ran it with 3:20:16, almost 10 minutes off from my PB. My 5k splits can tell a whole story about my marathon.

5k 21:07
Woops! Way too fast. I was aiming at 4:30m/k pace (22:30 for 5k). Thanks to the high unit iron tubs, I think the anaemia is healing quicker than I thought and I totally lost the sense of pace. During the training period, 4:30 pace for me was much harder than this, and I was struggling to run 5k TT for 21min.

10k 21:56 / 43:03
Still fast, but I felt OK so just continued. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was all excited about it since my last two marathons were in miserable rain.

15k 22:25 / 1:05:28
Finally getting back to the planned pace and I was hoping to keep this pace to the end. Optimistic! A woman at the roadside cheered me "Go China!", I was genki enough to tell her "No no, Japan!"

20k 23:06 / 1:28:35
Hmmm, now I realised the mistake I made. Going out too fast, the mistake that usually marathon beginners make. I never learn lessons from my past. Another spectator cheered me "Go China!", I used my precious energy for replying "No no, Japan, Tokyo!!!".

Half 1:33:28
This is more than 2 minutes faster than the half marathon I ran two weeks ago. I am getting healed from anaemia, definitely (looking at the bright side).

25k 23:14 / 1:51:49
I am getting tired and bored. I got a sharp pain in my left calf and hams, or was it later than that? I don't remember.

30k 24:03 / 2:15:53
Around 30k, I got passed by the lead pack of elite men. I wanted to cheer Hendrick Ramaala, but it happened within one second and I couldn't tell who's who from their backs. I shouted "Go! Hendrick!" anyway. (I am a big fan of Ramaala since NYC marathon 2005). I myself wasn't feeling very well. I just couldn't help slowing down.

35k 25:21 / 2:41:14
No guts, no fighting spirit, just keep myself going forward, many women and top men passed me. I didn't care any more.

40k 27:19 / 3:08:34
Kept jogging, wishing to reach the finishing line.

42.2 11:40 / 3:20:16
Although I was totally done then, it was still a great experience to run the last stretch at the Mall. I even sprinted a bit.

This is a bad example of running a marathon. I am amazed that someone who have run 10 marathons can still make such a mistake. I would blame on the weather, not mid-20 degree temperature but beautiful sunny day that made me too optimistic. :-)

The reunion of Namban friends in London was great. I felt so relaxed, just like being at home game in Tokyo. And above all, huge thanks to Geraldine and Rieko for their help and support. The start with all the elite women was unforgettable experience.

See you soon!

Mika from Seoul at the transit.

貧血レポート。

今年に入って、走っても走っても成果が出ない。それどころかどんどん遅くなる、という状態が続いていたため、先日、意を決して血液検査を受けて来た。そして「貧血」が判明。正直ホッとした。記録が伸びない理由がとりあえず明らかになったから。これがわかるまでは、「モチベーションの問題か？」とか、「根性が足りないのか？」とか、「いわゆる頭打ち？」などなど、いろんな考えがぐるぐるして、ランニングが嫌いになりそうになっていたので。

貧血にもいろいろあるらしいが、私の場合は「鉄欠乏症貧血」で、「赤血球」、「ヘモグロビン」、「ヘマトクリット」、「血清鉄」の項目の数値が基準以下だった。以下、ネットで付け焼刃お勉強してみた。

●貧血
血液中の赤血球や血色素が少なくなった状態。ヘモグロビンの原料となる鉄の不足による「鉄欠乏性貧血」がもっとも多いケース。
＜一般的な症状＞　めまい・立ちくらみ　頭が重い・頭痛　耳鳴り　顔色が悪い　唇の色が悪い　肩や首筋がこる　動悸・ 息切れ　むくみ　疲れやすい　体がだるい　注意力低下

●赤血球
肺で取り込まれた酸素を全身に運ぶ働きがある。寿命は120日。

●ヘモグロビン
赤血球の90%を構成する物質。血色素とも言われる。酸素を全身に運ぶ。

●ヘマトクリット
血液中にある赤血球の割合をヘマトクリット値と呼ぶ。

●血清鉄
肝臓などに蓄えられていた鉄が赤血球へと輸送される途中の段階。

激しい運動をすると、赤血球が早く壊れて貧血になりやすいそうだ。

乱暴に要約すると、
激しい運動で赤血球が壊れる→赤血球の生産が追いつかなくなる→酸素運搬能力が低下する→身体に酸素が回らなくなる→走っててしんどくなる→記録が出なくなる
ってことだな、どうも。 で、赤血球の生産に必要な鉄の投与が必要となるわけだ。

言われてみれば（笑）、トレイルでの登りや5000mTTなどは、ことのほかしんどかった、ような気がする。

ランナーは時々血液チェックをした方がよさそうだよ。私の場合は病院でやってもらった。費用は鉄剤の処方や初診料なども含めて3千円ぐらいだったかな（保険適用）。

というわけで、現在鉄剤を投与中。投与って言っても、毎晩2錠、ビタミンCと一緒に夕食後に飲むだけだけどね。

「鉄剤で貧血を治した直後にPB連発！」なんていう話も、ランナーからよく聞くので、内心楽しみでもある。怪我の功名目指して、がんばろっと。

Anemia report.

The blood check result reported that I am short of red blood cells, hemoglobin, hematocrit value and serum iron level, caused by shortage of iron.

Here is the rough explanation I learned from the Internet bibliotheque.

Hard excersise broke red blood cells more than normal and caused shortage of red blood cells, which lowered the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, which caused shortage of oxygen, that made me feel harder when I run and slowed my time. More iron needed to produce more red blood cells.

Come to think of it, no wonder I felt exceedingly hard when I run 5000m and uphills at trails.

Now I am taking iron medicine everyday, but still keep running. The doctor said I don't have to stop running.

Yoshida-san and Kuri both experienced anemia, and according to them, after taking iron medicine and gettig healed, they made torrent of PB's. Sounds sweet. I'm now a kind of looking forward to it. Life is not so bad after all.

Expreriencing this myself, I would say runners should take blood test regularly. I went to a clinick and it cost me 2,000 - 3,000yen including initial fee and iron medicine price (health insulance applied).

Post Tokyo Marathon struggle.

After Tokyo Marathon and during the preparaion for London Marathon (22 April), I was struggling with the situation of " getting slower and slower, weaker and weaker". First, I thought it's the matter of motivation, since I have been doing this marathon training since last July and a sort of getting bored with it. Second, I suspected my weight gain. Yes, I am now 2kg overweight compared to my best weight, and I feel physically heavy while I run.

Since my time gets slower and slower everytime I run, my motivation went lower and lower and as a consequence, I started to feel reluctant to run, and ruluctant to talk about running for these days.

One typical result. I ran Yaizu half marathon last Sunday and my time was disappointing 1:34:43 while I have been training for under 1:30.

Today, I found the third reason for my situation, and it seems to be the main factor of my problem. I had a blood test and found that I have anemia (low iron). Runners' common problem. I never had this problem in my life, but high mileage training seems to have caused this.

Now the reason is clear and I feel better somehow. The doctor said I can keep running and gave me the prescription for iron medicine.

10 days left for London Marathon. Will I be healed? (And will I loose 2kg?)