Kamikaze Trailwalkers

Photos from the finish line

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Trailwalker - The Event

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:22:00 +0000

We had booked Thursday night stay at an Odawara hotel. Didnt really sleep much but it was still helpful as we didn't have to wake up at some crazy hour and rush to take the train from Tokyo.

We were in the second group of walkers starting at 0930, a couple of circuits of the track after the starting gun and we were off - with expectations low, all we had was a desire to finish, ideally as a team, and if not at least to see 2 of us go across the finish line 100 km away.

Here's my recollection of how it went:

Start to CP1 - Patrice joins us as a support walker, reasonably good start on the flats, Darshan slow on the ascent

CP1 to CP2 - Darshan retires on the steep ascent so we are down to team of 3, temperature cools and gets cloudier, support crew in the form of Pramod waiting at CP2 with food and boot space to offload our backpacks

CP2 to CP3 - uneventful, my right knee starts protesting on descents

CP3 to CP4 - changed into running shoes, slower pace, rain gets heavier, Pramod is brilliant with his reiki massage for my tired feet, quick shower, change of clothes, food (Misako's superb Tofu burger recharged me :-), short nap, got my right knee taped by the doctor and we're ready to go

CP4 to CP5 - left CP4 at 0025, David joins after day's work at office so we are now team of 5 walking, stunning dawn views of Mt Fuji, bitten by insects yet again, Bob sleepwalks, descent into CP5 takes my left knee out as well

CP5 to CP6 - uneventful, often boring walk

CP6 to CP7 - stir-fried noodles at CP6, pace distinctly slows as left knee causes trouble on climbs as well

CP7 to CP8 - 5 hours rest, both knees retaped, blisters, bath, nap, and off at 2145, toughest segment all in darkness, heavy cloud and fog to Mt Furo, my pace slows down heavily on ascents and descents, the occasional flats offer some respite

CP8 to Finish - Pramod helps me with stretches in the middle of the highway near CP8, we set off for Mt Mikuni followed by descent and another ascent to Mt Myojin, Mt Fuji and Yamanakako shrouded in cloud and rain, we continue towards the final few kms and eventually reach finish point at 0623

It was an exhausting challenge; my legs could have been in better shape than they were and then there were moments when my mind played tricks on me telling me to sleep when I needed to keep walking . . . we made it in the end, and that's what matters :-)

Credits - support crew in Pramod, Misako later joined by Darshan, David and Patrice (these guys were the fittest and could have run the 100 km, yet they always kept pace with the slowest man) . Without these folks we wouldnt have made it.

Some Tips:
Wear trail runners - light, good fit, broken-in
Poles - absolute must in my opinion
15-20L rucksacks are enough - take food only for CP to CP, take rain/cold gear depending on forecast, keep it light
Rain gear - get proper waterproofs (goretex)
Agree rest strategy - short naps better than long sleep
Support crew - having one will help a lot
Eat and drink - salty food, hydrating salts, high carbs; CP are usually well stocked
Training - train on the trail, do all sections at least once, more for the tough ones and those that you will cover during the night

Group pic @ CP7

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:59:00 +0000

This is the only picture so far of the full team together. This was at CP7 just before we set off for the final leg of the trail.

From left to right: David Diep, Patrice Coupé, Darshan Badani, Pramod Karuna, Krishna, Bobby, Dinesh, Misako Arihama
Thanks to Hiroko Harakawa for sending this to us

Split Times

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:22:00 +0000

It was a monster of a walk, and this is how we did checkpoint to checkpoint - we walked 30 hours, took about 15 hours of rest and made slowest progress from CP7 to Finish.

Its Over. We made it!

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:17:00 +0000

Delighted to report we crossed the finish line in 44h54m, and all of us are in pretty good shape but for my dodgy left knee. More details of the event coming later.

Training #6 - CP4 to CP5

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:58:00 +0000

Date: May 10
Team members: Bobby, Dinesh, Edmund & Krishna
Total length: 18km
Start point: CP4 (Togendai)
End point: CP5 (Saijo-ji)
Time taken: 5.5 hrs (1010 to 1535)

Summary first, I think everybody agreed that the most painful part of the day was getting to CP4 to start and getting back home from CP5. Eveything else went fine, except for Ed's knee which packed up completely and the poor chap hobbled most of the distance to a heroic finish.

[our trail (in green) started on the lake's shores (bottom), passed through 6 kms of golf courses and populated areas, and the remaining 12km were bamboo forests and steep climbs with a long descent into Saijoji temple (top right)]

Started off from Shinjuku at 7am, the full team training together only for the second time and with a "guest" :-) David Diep, who joined us for a day in the great outdoors. Reached Togendai after changing 2 trains and a bus - speaking of which, it costs the same to take the bus from Hakone-Yumoto to Togendai (20ish km?) as it costs for the train ride from Shinjuku to Hakone (70km)!! We set off from Togendai at 10am, with Bob and Ed leading (running, actually) the pack for the first 6 km (covered in 1 hour) of flat-ish terrain to the foothills. The pace slowed down somewhat once the climb towards Mr Myojingatake started, and we started feeling the heat; literally! It was 28°C with no breeze whatsoever and once we reached the top of the ridge, we walked along short bamboo plants with no respite from the sun's rays beating down on us. Bob and I decided to hike in our vests which was the most we could peel off and still look like decent men (!) but that presented us with another challenge - flies and insects. The creatures buzzed around us all the time - very irritating - and when we stopped for a few minutes to eat our lunch at the top of climb, they had theirs! I had bites that started bleeding in places, while Din and Bob are still scratching their legs 24 hours later :-)

After a bit of climbing, and well before we reached the top, Ed's right knee gave away, and the same problem from 3 weeks ago (CP1-CP2) returned to haunt him; and while we were better equipped this time with painkillers and cold spray, none helped. We reached Mt Myojingatake and turned downwards for the long descent into Saijo-ji temple. This was about 6 kms going down from 1150m to 300ish, fairly uneventful and we finally reached CP5 at 3.30pm much to everyone's relief. Nobody wanted to do a further 9km to CP6, so we took the bus to Daiyuzan and the train back to Odawara and Shinjuku.

It was an enjoyable hike, but the heat sapped our energy completely and made the going tough. It is unfortunate for Ed to have injured his knee so close to the event, we all hope he hasn't done any long-term damage, and unfortunately for us we may not have him join us for the event in 10 days time.

Progress on the trail

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:31:00 +0000

This is what we have covered so far.

Click for interactive map.

Training #5(2) : Start-CP2

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:17:00 +0000

Date: May 3
Team members: Bobby, Dinesh & Krishna
Total length: 18km
Start point: Start (Shiroyama Stadium)
End point: CP2 (Ashinoyu)
Time taken: 5.5 hrs (0915 to 1446)

(Other data here)

The plan was to go on to CP4 but with Bobby and me risking injury to various body parts we decided to head back ;-)

Training #5(1) : CP7-Finish

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Sun, 03 May 2009 11:51:00 +0000

Date: May 2
Team members: Bobby, Dinesh & Krishna
Total length: 20.5 km
Start point: CP7 (Suruga-oyama station)
End point: Finish Point (Yamanakako YMCA)
Time taken: 8.5 hrs (1030 to 1900)
Total climb: 1712m
Total descent: 976m
Highest point: Mt Mikuni (1319m)

Altitude Profile

Weekend Training

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:09:00 +0000

Bob, Din and myself would be on the trail this weekend, hoping to cover the segments we haven't done so far.

Sat : CP7 to Finish - 20.5km
Sun: Start to CP3/4 - 24/36km

Din has got himself a brand new pair of shoes and loves them :)

CP5-7 Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:36:00 +0000

part 1

part 2

part3 to follow soon....

Kamikazes on CP2-4

noreply@blogger.com (Bob) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:32:00 +0000

It was a wonderful trek along the winding roads of Japan. Took us 3hrs and 20 min to complete the 17.5km stretch between CP2-4

Training #4 - CP2 to CP4

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:16:00 +0000

Date: Apr 29
Team members: Bobby and Krishna
Total Length: 17.5 km
Start Point: CP2 Ashinoyu Flower Centre
End Point: CP4 Ashinoko Camping Village
Time Taken: 3 hrs 30 min (8.50am to 12:20pm)

Altitude Profile

CP2-4 is perhaps the easiest section of Trailwalker, I wanted to do a quick (gentle!) hike on this mid-week public holiday, so off we went, Bobby and I, by the 6am train from Shinjuku. Getting to Ashinou is not easy, we changed trains at Odawara to reach Hakone Yumoto, then on to the Tozan line to Kowakidani station from where we changed onto a bus, which dropped us off at Ashinou (CP2) at 8.50am. Left CP2 at 8:50am, all went easy, I think on the actual day, the rock stairs going downhill from here will probably test our knees again, but other than that this is a straight-forward hike. Reached CP3 at 10am, and set out for CP4 at 10:10am, passing through Hakone Checkpoint which is an interesting place worth spending 5 min on your way out. The walk along Ashino-ko is easy and completely flat. We kept a brisk pace, averaging about 6kmph to cover the 12.5km in 2 hrs 10 min, reaching CP4 at 12:20pm. Relaxed a bit, and headed to Togendai from where we boarded a bus back to Hakone-Yumoto station and Tokyo.

Stunning views as the trail makes its way towards CP3

Bob winds his way down the trail to CP4

Lakeside break just before we reached CP4

Training #3 - Odawara 駅 to CP2

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 06:30:00 +0000

Date: Apr 26
Team members: Edmund & Krishna
Total length: 19 km
Start point: Odawara Station
End point: CP2 - Ashinoyu Flower Centre
Time taken: 8 hrs (0730 to 1530)

Altitude Profile

Ed and I did Odawara station to CP2 yesterday. Starting at 7.30am (from Odawara station) the plan was to reach CP3 by about 4pm. Start to CP1 went as expected, the walk took us along reasonable terrain - we covered the climb up to Mt Tonomine and descent into Amidaji temple in about 2h30m. Rested for 20m and at 11:50 set off for CP2, knowing this was the toughest portion of our day ;-) And sure enough, the trail didn't disappoint - right from Amidaji, the descent was steep, mainly concrete and stone steps all the way down to the road. A bit of hike on the road and the climb started soon after on a steep slope going up from the road to the trail. For the next hour and a bit, we climbed from 200m to 800m to Mt Sengen - it was all steps and a few bits on the odd occasion when the rate of ascent flattened out. After Mt Sengen a couple of kms remained largely flat to downhill, and after a final short (and steep) climb we reached Mt Takanosu after which it was a flat, longish walk until we reached CP2 at 15:30. My back was complaining by the end of this leg, but more importantly Ed's knees troubled him for most of CP1-CP2, and it made sense to stop at that point, so we returned to Hakone-Yumoto station by bus for a comfy journey back to Shinjuku on the Odakyu Romancecar. Despite the sunshine, we felt quite cold throughout CP1-2 as it was seriously windy, and no amount of clothing kept us warm.

In hindsight, the following need to become 'must have' items on our packing list:

Warm clothing - light fleece jacket
Windproof and waterproof outer jacket
Pain relief spray - invaluable when those muscles start protesting

CP1 - the climb begins

Perhaps the most photographed wreckage

Roots on the trail and tired legs do not go well together

Ed progresses towards CP2

Just how windy was it?

From Video

Training #3 tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:47:00 +0000

Three of us (minus Bob) plan to do Start to CP4 (36km) tomorrow. Din's knee is troubling him from the last hike, he will need some rest to prevent it from getting worse, so we are more likely down to half the team for tomorrow. Will update tomorrow.

Just a quick fundraising update

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:06:00 +0000

Merci ありがとうございました धन्यवाद 谢谢您

A big thank you to all who have graciously contributed to Oxfam thus far in support of our endeavour; close to £800 (¥ 115k) have been donated.

Training #2 - Mt Takao to Mt Jimba

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 09:31:00 +0000

Date: Apr 19
Team members: Dinesh & Krishna
Total length: 18.5 km
Start point: Inariyama Trail
End point: Jimba Kogenshita Bus Stop
Time taken: 6.5 hrs (0740 to 1410)
Total climb: 1210m
Total descent: 640m
Highest point: Mt Jimba (851m)
GPS Data: Click here

Altitude Profile (from my Geko 301 GPS)

Highlights

The trails are well sign-posted (some in English) so you do not need a map, however, if you don't speak/read Japanese take a list of place names along the trail in Kanji script to compare with what's on the signs (Google translator is a good place to start)
The trails can get quite crowded on weekends though it was not necessarily a problem for us
There are a number of "restaurants" along the way, they serve hot and cold food and drinks so you can keep your water and food load fairly minimal
Speaking of food, there's excellent bean-curd and mushroom soup (250円) at Shiroyama - don't miss it!
Between Kagenobuyama and Jimbasan you can choose easier trails that go around the mountains at various points - do it if your legs/knees are protesting
The walk down from Jimbasan to Wada-toge is just wooden steps all along, quite steep at times and is painful for tired legs/ankles/knees - be prepared
Wada-toge to Jimba kogenshita bus stop is 4.5kms of mountain road with hairpin bends and otherwise very boring - watch out for cars and cyclists and walk facing oncoming traffic

Here we are on Mt Takao, Mt Fuji is barely seen in the distance

Towards Jimba-san

Top of Mt Jimba

Training #2

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:41:00 +0000

Din and I head out to Takao-san/Jimbasan today. We'll update the blog with details of training 1 and 2 soon.

神風

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Got these from Kyoto :)

Training #1 Saijoji (CP5) to Surugaoyama Station (CP7)

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:50:00 +0000

Date: Apr 11
Team members: Bobby, Dinesh, Edmund & Krishna
Total length: 25 km
Start point: CP5 Saijo-ji Temple
End point: (CP7) Surugaoyama Station
Time taken: 6.25 hrs (0915 to 1630)
Total climb: 1015m
Total descent: 1021m
Highest point: Ashigara Manyo Park (767m)

Altitude Profile (Geko 301 GPS)

Highlights

Dead snake on the road between CP5-6
Live snake that Ed almost stepped on between CP6-7 :-)
Bob is da map-man - we didn't get lost even for a minute
We didn't make it to CP7 - we were seduced into resting at Surugaoyama station a few hundred metres before the CP, and then took the train back to Matsuda
...more to come

Tea estates en-route

@ CP6

Highest point on this hike - Ashigahara Manyo Park

Training #1

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:28:00 +0000

Two more days and we're off for our first real trek on the trail. Slight reshuffle of the original plan, we're doing CP5-CP7, which is about 25kms (lowest point 250m; highest 800m). Plan to take an early morning train out to Odawara. Aiming to finish by 6pm.

Din and I did the stairs at office after a 6km walk this morning, 28 floors in 10 min, certainly exceeded my expectations :-)

Next weekend we're doing Takao to Jimbasan, same route that the Snailwalkers took last year (thank you guys for the excellent write-up and trailmap:-)

Training Plan

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:33:00 +0000

Here's more detail on our training plan. When we are not on the trail, each of us is doing his bit to get some miles logged under our feet. Bob walked 18 kms in 3h15m on Friday and is getting some well deserved rest over the weekend. Din's planning to climb 26 floors up our office tower next week, I think he'll do it alone...I'd rather do some flat walking done first! Ed is settling into his new environment in Tokyo and getting some rest before the madness starts!

Our schedule for on-the-trail training

Apr 11 Start to CP3 [23.5km / Low 175m / High 850m]
Apr 25 CP7 to Finish [21.5km / L 250m / H 1325m]
May 2/3 CP3 to CP5 [30.5km / L 250m / H 1175m]
May 9 CP5 to CP7 [25.5km / L250m / H 750m]

Support Crew

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:32:00 +0000

Don't have one, but will be nice to have a crew to help take some of the load off our shoulders, greet us at checkpoints and encourage the team to keep moving. Bob said he'll try, Din is thinking about it, Kino has kindly offered to meet us on some checkpoints on Saturday and go to his holiday home in Yamanakako after the hike . . . so its all falling in place slowly.

What's the plan you ask?

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:34:00 +0000

Most teams out there seem to have been training on the trail a few times already . . and we're starting out in right earnest this week! Din and I have begun walking to office a couple of times a week, Bob is doing the same and Ed is pretty fit anyway so he's raring to go straight onto the trail ;-)

Our plan is made, we will train in Tokyo this week and scheduled to hit the trail practise from Apr 11 through May 9 - four trips in all, covering the entire trail exactly once, with one night hike.

Gear up

noreply@blogger.com (krish) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:17:00 +0000

rucksack, hiking clothes, walking sticks, hydration sac ordered and on their way!