15 May 2010

Tokyo Islands Series 2010 - Niijima


The Tokyo Island series kicked off on Saturday in cool but sunny weather on the island of Niijima. The series is 2 standard distance triathlons on Niijima and Oshima in May & June, then a 4.5km open water swim on Niijima in July and finally a 1.5km swim,10km run aquathon on Shikinejima in September. I'll just be doing the triathlons, its a long way and expensive trip just to go for a swim in the sea.

The ferries for the Izu islands leave Osanbashi Pier, Tokyo at 10pm every night and its an impressive sail out under the Rainbow Bridge to see the city by night, especially the Odaiba area. Its worth starting from Tokyo for the view, but you're better off starting from Yokohama an hour and a half later and nearly a thousand yen cheaper, if the ferry timetable allows.


After leaving Yokohama, the ship sails out of Tokyo bay and onwards to Oshima. The beer vending machines make a heavy profit at this time, and the decks are full of surfers, fishermen and tonight triathletes enjoying the ocean air. Except its cold tonight, anyone who can has retired to the seats/cabins below. Only a few Namban Rengo triathletes brave the open top deck as we were quick to grab the only raised and sheltered area on the deck.  Here I met Bevan and Vanessa, they're both Ozzie physios who live in Niseko, Hokkaido where they have a practise (?) as well as one in Setagaya and train for Ironman events in their spare time. Really nice couple, and tomorrow I discover just how fast they really are after their modest talk of various triathlons they've competed in recent years.

The ferry arrives at Oshima 6am, then stops at Toshima before we all get off on Niijima after 8am, feeling surprisingly refreshed and all slept well after a smooth sailing. 

All credit to Phil as hes sorted out a great minshuku for around 24 people near the center of town. But on this island, anywhere is near the center of town. Breakfast is waiting for us, then theres no time to relax before we get all our gear together and rollout to the start/finish area.

Niijima has the best of the beaches on the Izu islands, and the swim area looks impressive with the clear water, sheltered by beach breaks on 2 sides. A quick practise swim is essential, mainly to let you get over the shock that the water is still cool. Its so important to get into the water before the swim start, otherwise the shock of being in cold water together with hundreds of other swimmers can be too much, some people pull out triathlons at this stage due to the quite rational fear of "what am I doing here" taking over.

I initially make a bad start with goggles filling with water, (I must put the goggle straps under my hat for the next tri) and the usual mass start panic, but this only lasts to the first buoy and theres plenty of open water from this point on. 2 laps * 750m, and as always it takes me a long time to get into a rhythm swimming so my second lap was much smoother. A second wave of athletes started 4 mins after my group, and I saw one female yellow capped swimmer sail past me. She was probably the fastest swimmer, 19mins for the 1500m is pretty fast, if only she could ride a bike and run as well....

Transition was smooth, then onto the bike. 3 laps with hairpins, tight corners and a gentle rise over the the island from west coast to the surf beach on the east coast and back, but the wind was strong and unfortunately the section which should have been tailwind was in dense forest which was at least a welcome shade from the sun. I made the most of this bike section, and just went as fast as I could. Not a real course for the tri bars or disc wheeled tri machines, instead my road bike with mavic carbone wheels was about perfect for this course. I was 15th fastest on the bike, but this time includes both transitions, so I could possibly claim a few more places here.

The run was hilly, immediately out of transition it climbs up a hill I would guess 6% gradient with short level sections before reaching a mud running track up in the forest, it was a surprise to find this here where we did one lap before descending back down past the famous glass museum and even more famous outdoor onsen. One more lap to follow, and this descent was great to have at the finish, down hill all the way except for the final 500m. Its tough for everyone, but this makes the course more interesting. Kimm who is a really nice bloke from Korea was doing his first triathlon, and he even ran the second 5km of the run bare foot as his shoes were hurting too much! Theres been lots of talk about barefoot running recently, and Kimm has been practising a lot so his soles are used to it, he said climbing uphill was much easier barefoot than with shoes on. I can believe it, but for now I'll be running with fully clad feet.

Once everyone had finished, we all had a dip in the open air onsen which is a highlight of the island. Its open 24hours a day and is completely free. Overlooking the ocean, its the perfect place to relax after the afternoons exertions. Many small rock formations jut out into and way beyond the shoreline here, to make the scene spectacular. Nice in the evening as well, under a starry sky.

After that, back to the hostel, then down to the town sports hall where the prize giving and part was taking place. Taiko drums were played as we tucked into the fresh ocean food and beer. Everything was quickly consumed apart from the kusaya - fermented fish which is a speciality of the island. I had some on my plate and thought it was tasty, but I couldnt work out where the terrible smell was coming from before I realised.

Vanessa was the fastest female, and Bevan was 3rd although up until the point he went up to the podium we all though he was second. Turned out that a guy in the second wave who started 4 mins later had beaten him by a second into 2nd place! They all received trophies made from Niijima glassware, the special glass is only made here and in one place in Italy.


After the party we managed to do a deal with a dodgy pub-snack type place, which was large enough for us all to allow for karaoke and drinks for 3000yen. The usual songs came up, I selected bicycle race by Queen and by that time I'd had quite enough shochu before the tab on the bar ran out.

Sunday morning our activities continued by cycling to the highest point on the island (over 400m) then going for a swim in the surf beach. Lots of surfers out today, and it was fun swimming through the waves. The swimming wetsuits are great, they almost feel as if you are a small boat, its so easy to paddle away and cut through the water.

In all, it was a great weekend on the island and the standard distance tri was so different to the Miyakojima strongman event. It was nice to be able to go flat out for a decent distance without having to worry about conserving energy. I almost see the ironman events as a power bar picnic on wheels now, but both are enjoyable in different ways.

Now I have 4 weeks to improve my run time before Oshima....

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