Miyakojima Strongman 2010

The closing ceremony, prize giving and of course Strongman limited edition beer was yesterday and wrapped up a thoroughly enjoyable and well organized event over the last 4 days.

The support around the island was fantastic with people singing and dancing and general encouragement all the way around the course.

I'll remember the sound of the sanshin, the traditional Okinawan 3 stringed, snake skin instrument after this.


The swim went well, despite the near drowning on the first straight. Mass swims are by far the most exhilarating part of triathlon as you get grabbed and kicked in the white water. I should have started further toward the fast swimmers than I did as slow swimmers were occasionally causing scary pileups in the water. This is when you just have to relax, breathe normally and keep moving forward. It's impossible to treadwater or even move left or right, just go with he flow and hope for clear water.
After he first turn we had 1100m with he current, this was great and I kept out of danger by swimming far too he left. At the 1700m point the swim turns right and heads into a strong current for the final straight. Everybody slowed up here and there was no clear water to the finish. At one point my goggles were half knocked off, that meant they started to fill with water until I had to take them off, but it's not safe to stop so I had to fight my way across to the left once more to quickly get them back on. This was one of the scarier moments, the mass swim is not something you can easily prepare for.

Once out of the water it was a breeze on the bike all the way to the most northerly point. Here the route loops around a small island then back over a long bridge and the strongest headwinds on the course. I cycled a large section of the race with a French guy called Erik - not drafting, we were just going the same pace except I always caught him upon the uphill sections. until he had some stomach cramps and had to rest that is. But long distance tris are just that, long distance, you can have a bad patch then recover to finish well which is what Erik eventually did.
The rest of the cycle was just enjoyable, nice views 24 degrees and cloudy it was great conditions to be on the bike. Best part was when our hostel owners wife handed out he strawberry Mochisweets at 100km. After power bar after power gel, these home made sweets were just soo tasty.
Long tris are great for transition, I made a complete change of clothes and headed out on the run. Nice slow pace, I was going well enjoying the party until 20km when my left calf cramped up. I wasn't tired but once the lactic acid has built up in the legs they just cannot move at any speed. I could continue walking and did so for 6 km. At this point I wasconsidering how long it would take to walk back and realized that the elimination time was not too far off. As I had energy I knew I could rest whilst walking and recover enough to speed up to
make sure I finished this event.

My official time was 11hr 18mim 26s
swim 57m 58s
cycle 5hr 16m 35s (this includes transition, The ride was sub 5hr)
run 5hr 3m 53s

Overall 407th of 1207 finishers, 194 did not finish. So I was just really pleased to finish the event, well within the time limit and not require drip feeds or resuscitation at the finish line. Far from it, the event prepares you for a long day and so you seem to be able to stretch out the energy reserves allday just by keeping aerobic the while way. Obviously my limit was reached at 20km run but the odd thing is I didn't feel tired. Maybe it was just the exhilaration of the day and the support taking away the pain.

All in all, a great day and congratulations to all who completed the distance and thanks to the people of Miyakojima.

24 degrees 72% humidity
sea temp 23 degrees
wind 5.2m south

Official results