I failed to register on Runnet. I was not used yet to the use of the site. I clicked several times to refresh the page. I should have wait. I explained this to the person in charge of the English site of the race, and asked him if I could register as a foreigner. He accepted for me, but not for Yuki. I registered to the race going to the 5th station because I thought that we had to finish this race in less then 2h30 before being able to apply to the one going to the summit. Later I understood that the foreigners can directly apply to the summit race. I'm not too disappointed because I'm not in good shape now, so 5th station is OK. 15km and 1500m of climbing from about 700m at the start to 2300m at the goal.
We stayed at the Fuji Q Highland Resort Hotel. There was an onsen in the hotel and it was included in the price, so we had a nice bath. A ticket for Fuji Q park was included too, but I didn't use it.
Before talking about the race, let me do a little digression. A month ago, Philippe told me about Maffetone book entitled "The Big Book Of Endurance Training and Racing". I started to read it. It is very interesting and I decided to apply at least partly it's principles.
First, he says we should train under the maximum aerobic heart rate frequency (MAF) which is about 180-age. For me it is 180-41-5=134. I substracted five more beats because I was injured lately. So I started to train at 134bpm. The many testimonies in is book were all explaining that it was very difficult to train at such a low pace. For me it was very difficult to run at such a high pace...OK. I was really lacking of training I guess. After few training, it is getting easier, but still not a slow pace for me.
Next I tried to change my diet to eat more protein and fat, and less carbs. I started 10 days ago. I was so tired during the first week with much difficulties to concentrate and even little dizziness sometime... I think, well I'm sure I was very addicted to sugar. I will continue with this diet, but as I don't think that my body can adapt to use fat instead of carbs in such a short time, the day before the race I did an exception and ate full of carbs...pizza, pasta...bad carbs, but so tasty :) OK, we are back to the race.
As I registered as a foreigner, I had the good surprise to see that I could start at the front of the pack, with the invited runners. First time (and maybe last) for me. Interesting. I will be on the pictures.
We started at 9am. I was rapidly passed by dozen and dozen of people. I was expecting this. What I was not expecting is that I was still pass by a lot of people during all the first 10km of road. I was keep telling to myself, "Wow, all those people are so strong ! Or so unreasonable?". Well, it was both. I passed back many peoples on the trail, during the last 5km, but still may people were ahead at the end.
I finished in 1:53:41, 152 among more than 1700. I was satisfied considering my poor shape. But the more satisfactory was the fact that I could finally enjoy a race whitout pain at all in my left knee (partly because I recover and also thanks to the fact that there was no downhill !).
Next year I will try the summit race and Yuki the 5th station (if we manage to register !).
The gps data are here:
Some pictures here:
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