Skip to main content

Aoyama Gakuin University's Tadashi Isshiki After 42.195 km Training Run in 2:28:10: "That Was Just Jogging"

http://www.hochi.co.jp/sports/etc/20170201-OHT1T50148.html

translated by Brett Larner

Tadashi Isshiki, star fourth-year at 2015-2017 Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University, completed a 42.195 km training run Feb. 1 in Futtsu, Chiba.  Isshiki ran the first 40 km in 2:21:52, roughly 3:33/km, before picking up the pace to 2:52/km to complete the final 2.195 km in 6:18 for a total time of 2:28:10.  Aoyama Gakuin head coach Susumu Hara, 49, has placed a heavy emphasis on major acceleration after 40 km, but Isshiki looked fresh as he finished the run, laughing, "That was just jogging."

Isshiki took part in Aoyama Gakuin's Jan. 13-15 marathon training camp in Futtsu but came down with a sore throat after the first day and dropped out. He soon recovered.  Planning to run the March 5 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon in a bid to make the London World Championships marathon team he faces rising expectations as Japan's #1 university runner.

Also doing the 42.195 km training run today were Aoyama Gakuin third-years Yuki Nakamura and Shunpei Oda as well as Shoin University graduate Aritaka Kajiwara, 28, who ran the Hakone Ekiden four times on the Kanto Region Select Team.  Nakamura is in training for the Feb. 26 Tokyo Marathon, Oda for the Mar. 5 Shizuoka Marathon and Kajiwara for Lake Biwa alongside Isshiki.

Scheduled to run the Tokyo Marathon as part of its elite field, Japanese under-20 marathon national record holder Yuta Shimoda, an Aoyama Gakuin third-year with a 2:11:34 debut in Tokyo last year, has been experiencing pain in his right knee and sat the workout out.  On Jan. 15 Shimoda did the  identical workout in 2:27:35 with a 6:17 split for the last 2.195 km.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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

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

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