Tokyo Marathon 2010, The Numbers

A Tokyo Marathon report from Japan Running News:

What a day. With 6 degree temperatures at the start, strong winds, rain turning to snow as temperatures fell, and a tsunami warning for the waterfront finish area, this year's Tokyo Marathon had the worst conditions in the event's four-year history. That is saying quite a bit after the cold rain in 2007 and the gale-force winds last year. Times were never on the table as runners fought simply to survive.

Further down in the article he mentions the wet snow that started falling at 28k for the leaders, which more-or-less coincides with the extreme cold I started feeling in my arms around 17k. I might have been too cold to notice that it was snowing. I was also just 2k into 13 straight kilometers of a notable headwind.

Anyway, here are some of my stats from the run, including my splits for nearly every kilometer:

Official Time: 3:15.55
Watch Time: 3:15.53
Estimated Chip Time (Real Time, adjusted for time it took to cross start line): 3:14.25

Average Heart Rate: 168bpm
Heart Rate at Finish: 172bpm
Heart Rate Range: 112-182
Time spent above 180bpm: 20 sec.
Time spent below 160bpm: 5 min, 20 sec.

Splits from my watch:

Official start: 00.00
Crossing start line: 1.28
5k: 23.48 (22.20)
6k: 28.07 (4.19)
7k: 32.29 (4.21)
8k: 36.52 (4.23)
10k: 45.46 (8.53, 4.27/k)
11k: 50.11 (4.25)
12k: 54.33 (4.22)
13k: 58.59 (4.26)
14k: 1:03.29 (4.29)
15k: 1:07.52 (4.22)
17k: 1:16.47 (8.54, 4.27/k)
18k: 1:21.13 (4.26)
19k: 1:25.43 (4.30)
20k: 1:30.14 (4.31)
21.1k (half): 1:35.20 (5.05)
22k: 1:39.24 (4.04)
24k: 1:48.30 (9.06, 4.33/k)
25k: 1:53.08 (4.38)
27k: 2:02.43 (9.34, 4.47/k)
28k: 2:07.23 (4.39)
29k: 2:12.00 (4.36)
30k: 2:16.32 (4.32)
31k: 2:21.14 (4.42)
32k: 2:25.52 (4.37)
33k: 2:30.33 (4.41)
34k: 2:35.17 (4.44)
35k: 2:40.03 (4.50)
36k: 2:44.59 (4.55)
37k: 2:49.41 (4.42)
38k: 2:54.32 (4.51)
39k: 2:59.29 (4.56)
40k: 3:04.36 (5.07)
41k: 3:09.48 (5.11)
42k: 3:14.57 (5.09)
42.195k: 3:15.53 (.55)

You can see things started to go downhill right around the halfway point. And that's just too early to start losing so much ground. I had a 1 min, 10 sec. lead on my goal pace (if we use the chip time) at the halfway point, but that is just not enough to hold up in the later kilometers. And as I mentioned in my last post, my failure to reach my goal became apparent to me around 30k. You can see my splits suffered after that, when I was no longer motivated to my goal. I was just running to reach warmth at that point. It's interesting - and probably helpful for the future - to see all those splits, though.

The other note that I can't reiterate enough is my heart rate average. Last year's Tokyo Marathon had a 174bpm average and a max of 192bpm. This year's average was only 168bpm - the lowest of my last six marathons - and the my fastest time by 4.5 minutes. I ran faster than ever and my heart beat slower than ever. There was a lot of unused fitness left in my body at the finish line, wasted by a pain in my right calf.