Skip to main content

Akaba Completes 40 km Training Run

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/p-sp-tp0-20090603-502205.html
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/090602/oth0906021957011-n1.htm
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/olympic/news/2009/06/03/03.html
http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2009060200863
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/f-sp-tp0-20090603-502398.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Thanks to "the power of being watched," Berlin World Championships women's marathon team member Yukiko Akaba (29, team Hokuren) ran a 40 km test run at her high-altitude training camp in Sugadaira, Nagano, on June 2 in front of 10 members of the press. Akaba's form and rhythm were smooth as she completed the 6-lap practice run in 2:35:27. She smiled afterwards as she said, "That was tough. It's been a long time since I've done something this hard."

Two days before the workout Akaba experienced some discomfort in the middle toe on her left foot, but she nevertheless ran the full distance as planned. "My foot is fine," she said. Her coach and husband Shuhei told reporters, "I think the foot pain she had was just from trying out a new pair of shoes. In terms of this workout, Yukiko always trains without many people around, so sometimes the motivation to push herself is lacking a bit. Without this gallery watching today she might have only run 2 loops [instead of 6]. It's a good thing that she finished the full workout, and that's the power of being watched."

With the success of this public workout it's clear Akaba's preparations for Berlin are going well. Shuhei described the family team's plans for Akaba's summer training. Akaba will continue training in Sugadaira until June 20, adding speedwork to help her get ready for the 10000 m in this month's National Track and Field Championships. After that she will continue her marathon training. "She's going to do 2 or 3 more 40 km runs before Berlin. We're covering all the bases." Asked about her goal for the World Championships marathon, Akaba replied, "A medal, or at worst the top eight."
Labels:

Comments

dennis said…
Come on beat Paula! Rikuren needs to train the world champs member to stick with Paula no matter what and try to beat her.
June 4, 2009 at 7:48 AM
Brett Larner said…
I don't see anywhere in this article where Akaba is crying about a sore toe.
June 4, 2009 at 1:51 PM
dennis said…
Who's gonna get selected for the 10000 meters in Berlin? Is there a selection race? I think they'll picked Nakamura, Mari Ozaki, Megumi Seike, Kayoko Fukushi, and Mizuho nasukawa.
June 5, 2009 at 8:12 AM
dennis said…
Is there any more track races. This year was a very disappointing track season. None of the japanese runner crack 32:00. Last year Akaka ran 31:36 and Nakamura ran 31:31.
June 5, 2009 at 8:14 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43
Post a Comment
Read more

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half
Post a Comment
Read more

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis
Post a Comment
Read more