February 28, 2021. The day the Japanese broke the marathon. 40 - YES 40 - Japanese men just broke 2:10 at Lake Biwa

It is truly remarkable to have that kind of depth.

Shows you what dedication and a national culture can create.

The US could have the same results if they prioritizes marathoning.

But marathoning in the US is not very popular.

(I have a tv show about a marathon runner, incidentally)

Greg wrote:

(I have a tv show about a marathon runner, incidentally)

Where can I watch it?

Dude's name is Osako, not Osaka, Einstein.

rojo wrote:

The winner's splits are amazing.

Osaka's NR was 2::05:29 coming in. After hitting halfway in 1:02:36, thigns were going fantastic thorugh 30k. But from 30 to 35k, they slowed and ran their first 5k split over 15:00 - 15:02 and were on just 2:05:24 pace.

But from 35k to 40k, he ran 14:39 (beating the 2nd place guy by nearly a minute). Then for the final 2.195 he went WAY faster. He ran that in 6:16 which is 14:16.5 pace

Kyohei Hosoya, 31/08/1995 (3rd place, Lake Biwa)

This guy is 13:54/28:42 and runs 2:06:35. Monster perf.

5000 Metres 13:54.63 Aoba Park Athletic Field, Chitose (JPN) 18 JUL 2020 1018

10,000 Metres 28:42.06 Hosei University Stadium, Machida (JPN) 23 NOV 2019 1068

10 Kilometres 30:39 Hitachinaka (JPN) 27 JAN 2013 908

Half Marathon 1:01:16 Yamaguchi (JPN) 14 FEB 2021 1140

Marathon 2:06:35 Otsu (JPN) 28 FEB 2021 1223

Kenta Uchida, 19/01/1996 (20th at Lake Biwa - 2:08:12)

5000 Metres 13:58.93 NITTAIDAI Athletic Stadium, Yokohama (JPN) 06 DEC 2020 1003

10,000 Metres 29:38.96 Hosei University Stadium, Machida (JPN) 23 NOV 2019 984

20 Kilometres 1:00:38 Tachikawa (JPN) 14 OCT 2017 1026

Half Marathon 1:01:37 Yamaguchi (JPN) 09 FEB 2020 1126

30 Kilometres 1:33:56 Tokyo (JPN) 17 FEB 2019 1043

Marathon 2:08:12 Otsu (JPN) 28 FEB 2021 1194

His progress:

2019 - 14:19.97/29:38.96

2020 - 13:58.95

Half Marathon:

2014 - 1:05:11

2016- 1:03:55

2017 - 1:04:10

2019 - 1:03:01

2020 - 1:01:37

2021 - 1:02:29 (14/02/2021) -two weeks before his 2:08:12

This shows that the Japanese more than any other nation can really run close to their native speed for a long distance. Some of their PB’s at shorter distances are good but certainly not impressive in comparison to their marathon time. This is unique.

Not buying it.

Send half these guys to Boston/NYC/LA and see if these times hold up. With these times, should be a no brainer, right?

Ghost1 wrote:

epohit wrote:

Short course?

I am seriously thinking the same thing that it’s a short course what really astonished me was Yuki Kawauchi running 2:07 and he is well past his best. No disrespect. When you see so many pbs it definitely seems to be short but if it’s the super shoes then “yea”super shoes are the “winners.”

On that subject I assume Kawauchi did not wear the super shoes as he is still with ASICS unless they have their own version of the super shoes? Maybe we should ask Julien Wanders?

I was also astonished by Yuki’s 2:07. He had not broken 2:09 in his last 84 marathons, dating back to early 2013. And in the last 3 years most of his races have been in the 2:13 to 2:18 range. I would love to know more about these ASICS prototypes that he switched to last month.

krispy kremlin._._._._. wrote:

Not buying it.

Send half these guys to Boston/NYC/LA and see if these times hold up. With these times, should be a no brainer, right?

+1. It’s 100% a short course. Don’t know why people think the Japanese are infallible

SlowFox wrote:

アメリカ人は遅々と走りすぎるんだな〜

Well done.

Well they would have swarmed The Marathon Project field, probably could have run even faster there as the Lake Biwa course has more hills. Hehir and Droddy would have been buried, with or without supershoes.

krispy kremlin._._._._. wrote:

Not buying it.

Send half these guys to Boston/NYC/LA and see if these times hold up. With these times, should be a no brainer, right?

epohit wrote:

Short course?

I did wonder that myself but I imagine if any of the splits seemed off, people would have realized it by now. Lake Biwa is a HISTORIC race so i think it would be pretty hard to screw up the course.

Full video of the race: watch it now before it inevitably gets taken down by copyright strike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx8LOBkB6Xw

have to say it..... wrote:

tough gig wrote:

I wouldn't like to be a Japanese selector choosing a team for the Olympics.

Well, since the team's already set, that should be no problem.

When and how and who?

Any updates?

If it's a short course then, wow what a fork up

If It's not then wow what a race.

juddy96 wrote:

Full video of the race: watch it now before it inevitably gets taken down by copyright strike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx8LOBkB6Xw

Making his move at 01:50.

kmaclam wrote:

And how does 1 country, less than 1/2 the size of Texas SO outperform 'America'??? C'mon Texas, up your game.

Population density of Japan is ridiculous. Its about the size of California, but has 3 times the amount of people (over 125 million total).

tough gig wrote:

Any updates?

If it's a short course then, wow what a fork up

If It's not then wow what a race.

1. This is a pretty established marathon for a while now, so I'm pretty sure the race organisers know what they're doing.

2. Since a national record was set they'll re-verify that it is the correct length.

GOBBLE GOBBLE wrote:

tough gig wrote:

Any updates?

If it's a short course then, wow what a fork up

If It's not then wow what a race.

1. This is a pretty established marathon for a while now, so I'm pretty sure the race organisers know what they're doing.

2. Since a national record was set they'll re-verify that it is the correct length.

I've got some more info on the course. Out and back.

Yuki Kawauchi - 2:07:20 here, to put things into perspective he recently ran a 10,000 m on the track and he was aiming for around 2930 but ended up running 30 minutes plus. Here at Lake Biwa he cruises through the 10 km point with around 60 other athletes in 29:59. These times today just don’t gel in any shape or form.

What made me really ponder the situation was when I looked at the video and saw all those guys running 2:08-2:09 and looking at their bio mechanics, I’m sorry folks but many of those people really did not look like 2:08 -2:09 runners for the marathon. I know they ran those times but I really suspect the course was short or there’s something very strange going on. This was the deepest marathon in history by a long shot.