Ironman Japan 2024 Race Report

IM Japan Race Report Ironman Japan was my 11th full distance race and my 7th country. Ironically, the most interesting parts of this trip were the mishaps and challenging logistics. This will be different race report from most, so I’ll provide a quick summary first. I made it easy to jump to the section you want to read about.

Summary

The journey started with the Delta plane I was on (A350) crashing into a much smaller plane (CRJ) and knocking its entire tail wings off! Instead of the planned 2 days of travel, it took 3 days to get to Hokkaido, Japan. I got checked in, and made sure my bike was ready to fly. 2.4 mile swim in the sea. 112 mile bike on the highway. 26.2 mile run through the town of Hokadate.

Race morning was electric. It was windy, so there were significant waves. Overall, the swim was calm, but crowded. I finished in 1:46, 20 minutes faster than my previous ocean swim in Barcelona. A big win for me. The bike was advertised as flat. The 4,700 feet of climbing says that was a lie! Constant rollers. I crushed the bike, moving up from 224th place in my age group to 92nd. Unfortunately, I pushed hard on the last steep climb and pulled my calf muscle. So I walked the marathon. I finished! Despite all the challenges, I managed them all. And happy with the results. Now for the details for those interested:

Plane Crash

I had a flight to Tokyo, then a connection to Hokkaido. As the plane was taxiing to take off, everyone felt a jolt, as if we hit a bump. Then plane stopped. None of the passengers near me knew what was going on. After a couple of minutes, the pilot announced that the “plane has made impact with another aircraft.“ It was another 10 minutes before we were permitted to taxi back to the gate. That’s when I saw the damage that was done. I took a video and photos of the much smaller plane with its tail wings torn off of the fuselage! While the crew were being investigated by the FAA, all of the passengers were held in a large room with food while we were scrambling to make alternate travel plans or wait for Delta’s changing plans.

I didn’t want to lose my hotel room, so I found a Japanese passenger to tell the hotel I will arrive a day late. When I called, the receptionist didn’t speak English. My plan was to arrive on Wednesday, assemble my bike, then check in to the race on Thursday. Friday would be a busy race prep day. Delta told me the earliest they could fly me into Hokkaido was Friday evening. Oh hell no! I would miss the required check in time. Hours later, Delta confirmed an evening flight to Tokyo. I accepted that option, spent the night in Tokyo, and planned to take 4 different trains to Hokkaido. Including the high speed Shikansen. With my bike and suitcase. I had to stay the night because trains stopped running in the evenings there.

Trains, Planes and Bicycles

After 2 days of flying, the third day I started my journey on trains on Wednesday. I mapped out a plan to arrive around 3 pm Thursday, still time to check in on the day planned. The train system in Japan is complicated with numerous companies operating on the same tracks. So it took a little longer to confirm that I was getting on the correct train. I made it! At 5:45. Too late to check in. Which was a half hour away from the train station and hotel district. *sigh* Friday was the last day to check in the race, so I was still good. But now rushing to get everything on my checklist complete on Thursday. It is also the day I realized how complicated the logistics are for this race. There were three official lodging areas, and they were all far from the race venues.

Since I couldn’t check in, I assembled my bike, went for a ride in the streets. Now this was wild! Firstly, biking on the left side of the road is weird. Then I kept freaking out because I kept seeing what I thought was Do Not Enter signs. I found out later these were no parking and no stopping signs. I kept the ride short, stayed safe, then went running instead. The street signage was unreadable, so I ended up making wrong turns to get back to the hotel. I was close, just the wrong streets. So my 2 mile run turned into 3 miles. Tired from all the traveling, I had a very good night’s sleep.

Check in

It was great that shuttles were provided. So I didn’t rent a car. I shuttled to check in first thing in the morning, and then waited for them to get set up. Once it opened, the process was smooth and easy. The race bag will be great for my training swims or carrying wet gear. I also received a nice race belt. Afterwards, I went shopping in the official store and grabbed the very last XL cycling kit! No, I don’t normally buy XL, but these are Japanese sizing.

Bike Transportation

Next, I had to figure out how to retrieve my bike after the race. The bike finish is too far away to bike from at night, no bikes will be allowed on the highway, just no good way to get the bikes unless one has a car. Ironman man offered 4 transportation options for next day delivery, through 3rd party companies that included having the packed up bike delivered to the airport. I chose the option to have my bike delivered to an office 5 miles from my hotel. These options were actually very confusing because the details were never communicated. Even the native speakers were frustrated. There was even less communication in English. Ensuring our expensive race bikes are taken care of is very important to all of us racers. That was just one of many unanswered questions going into the race, so the English athletes briefing was important was important to attend.

Athlete Briefing

There were 3 briefings, 2 in Japanese and 1 in English. It was packed inside an auditorium room. About 200 attended. Many questions were answered there. Such as, navigating the 2 3/4 loop bike course. At the 160 km (98 mi) point, we need to exit the highway on the left. It’s Japan, so we need to stay to the left while biking. No verbal commands are expected to shouted when passing. T1 is some 15 miles away from T2, so they announced that we do not have to go to T2 drop off our run bag. They can be dropped off before the race and they will carry it over to T1. There were many questions and lots of frustrated folks as the transportation details were still not communicated. Everyone left still unsure how the bike transportation will work out. There were many food trucks selling local cuisines. I tried some deer, which they call momiji. It tasted good!

After I shuttled back to the hotel, I went through my checklist and prepared my gear bags for check in the following day. Practice Swim & Bike On Saturday, the practice swim was moved from the morning to the afternoon to allow the volunteers to clear the beach of sea shells and seaweed. I adjusted my plan and went for another attempt at bike riding in the streets. This time I knew what the signage meant. I biked for a longer distance, and felt comfortable that me and my bike were ready to fly. Then I realized my next challenge, how to get my bike and gear bags to the check in. It was 7 miles away from my hotel. Bikes are not allowed on the shuttles. I thought I was smart, and went to the train station to get there. I noticed there were no other athletes with the same idea. As I was buying a ticket, a worker came to me signaled that I can’t bring my bike on the train unless it’s in a case. Ugh.

Time to bike over. This worried me because again, I can’t read the street signs. I looked at the directions in Google Maps, put my phone in my pocket, and off I went. Of course, I made a wrong turn. Then I saw a Japanese only speaking cyclist that had to be going to the same place I was. I followed him to T1, where I checked in my bike. They would only accept the bike gear bag. I carried my run gear bag just in case. If they would accept the bag on race day, why wouldn’t they accept the same bag the day before so we wouldn’t have to worry about it? They would not accept the Run bag. 

The water was fairly calm for the practice swim. Everyone had to enter at the same time from the same location, so it was crowded. The other week, I was laughing at how shallow the swim was in videos of IM Estonia. The joke’s on me because this was the same. We all had to walk 300 meters before it was deep enough to swim!! I knew that would make the race swim interesting. I swam out to the buoy then back to the shore, after another long walk back through the shallow water. The swim felt good. The water was definitely wet suit temperature. It was very dark and murky though with the black sand. Overall, I felt good and confident with the swim.

I took the train back to the hotel, because I didn’t feel like walking back to the shuttle. I didn’t realize I had to wait a long while for the next train to come, so I would have been better off walking to the shuttles. After finding a tasty dinner, I had good night’s sleep and was ready to race.

Swim - 2.4 miles - 1:46:09

The announcers were electric race morning. Speaking in both Japanese and English, everyone felt the excitement and was eager to race. Colored swim caps were assigned based on expected finish time. Half of the swimmers wore yellow, which was over 71 minutes. It was a rolling start, 5 racers every 5 seconds. Half of the swimmers would run into the sea, but everyone was quickly slowed to a walk once the water reached the knees. There was no point in getting worn out trying to swim when it wasn’t faster than walking with high knees.

The swim was an odd, origami shape, 2 loops. The first turn was a hard left. Since half of that leg is walking, it didn’t take long to get there. There was a lot of contact with other swimmers since there was no room to get separation. The second leg was with the current, and felt much faster. The second turn was wild! It was a near 180º turn. I’ve never had to turn that sharp in an IM race. They’re a big backup from swimmers trying to navigate it. Even with me staying wide, I had to wait for it to clear before proceeding. This third leg was much slower, as it was against the current. It was also tougher to sight, and maintain a straight line.

The last leg was back to the shore, where half of it was walking. I learned again swimming was not faster than walking. Then did it again. My goal was to show improvement, and not be the slowest in my age group as I typically am. I exited the water in This swim was 20 minutes faster than my last swim, so my training and hard work definitely paid off. I was happy with the results.

T1 - 7:39

Everyone continued their fast walk out of the water to the racks that held the bike bags. I drank some much needed fresh water, grabbed my bag, put on my bike gear without going into the changing tent, and off I went with my bike.

Bike - 112 miles - 6:34:38

After a few quick turns, I was up on the ramp onto the highway. I got used to riding on the left side quickly, The guide described the course as flat, but the road was either a constant long climb, or a long descent. My Garmin indicated 4700 feet of climbing! That’s significant. There was climb that was very steep, and right after a sharp U-Turn. This was a 2 and 3/4 loop course. One U-Turn we hit twice, while the other, 3 times. My race bike cannot make sharp turns, so these points I had to take much slower than everyone else.

I biked per my power meter, not to speed. I was flying past near everyone, feeling great. Too great. Near the end, I decided to push for a strong finish, and pass the last group of cyclists on the steep climb. I stood up to get more power, then *pow*. I pulled my calf muscle. Ugh!!! I was still able to finish the back strong, as that’s mostly my quads. But knew I will be in trouble on the run.

I finished the swim in 224th place in my age group, 1174th overall. After the bike, I was in 94th place, 523rd overall!! So Yeah, I smoked the bike course compared to most of the field.

T2 - 7:42

My mind must have been gone when I got off the bike, because I decided to remove my feet from my shoes while riding, leaving the shoes clipped in to my bike. That means I ran barefoot through transition on the rough ground. I still had a fairly fast transition though. Since I dropped off my run bag at the swim start.

Run (walk) 26.2 miles - 6:36:41

The run started strong with a 10 min per mile run, as the tightness in my calf kept increasing. The run was advertised as flat, but of course, it was not. The entire back part of the loop was up hill, and we had 3 loops to complete. The hill put more pressure on my calf, and right away it was clear that I would not be able to run. The pulled calf muscle was very painful on the climbs, so I walked the hill to not make the injury worse. On the downhill, I picked it up a little, but still mostly walked. Everyone that I passed on the bike, I saw them again on the run. The English speakers were very friendly and had some great conversations to pass the time.

The crowd support was amazing! Many of the Japanese cheered siliently with their fingers waving in the air. I waved in appreciation to all of them. The best supporter I saw drew a cartoon figure of a woman waving her fingers, and she was holding that sign! There were plenty of vocal supporters as well. I was on track for a 12-13 hour finish when I got off the bike, so I knew I had plenty of time to finish even by walking. The temperature dropped significantly, and it the run course was very dark in many areas.

I kept it moving, and then I got to enjoy the finish line. The announcers were bilingual, the music was booming and kept the many supporters excited. The words I’ve been waiting to hear was announced, “Derrick Britton from the United States, You Are An Ironman!!!”

Checkout

After the race, I took the shuttle back to the hotel. The next morning at breakfast, I was talking to the other athletes and we all had the same realization. We never figured out how to get our bikes back! An athlete overhead us, and let us know that we have to personally go retrieve our bikes, then take it over to the transportation company. Ugh. After eating breakfast, I took a taxi some 30 miles to T2. There were shuttles, but I didn’t want to waste time. There were hundreds of bikes still on the racks, so I know there will be a lot of folks looking for their bikes in the wrong location.

After picking up my bike, I then had to find the correct transportation company. They were located behind the train station. The next question was, how to get to the transportation office to retrieve our bikes again. I found that there is another shuttle bus that will take us. So I had to wait an hour for that bus to leave. How was I to know any of these details? None of these details were in the Athlete Guide, Athlete Briefing, or any of the e-mails or announcements. After the shuttle ride to the office, I followed other cyclists to bike about 5 miles back to the hotel. Travel After mapping out an itinerary to get to the airport, I chose the express to the airport. It turns out, it was a bus that does not take bikes. Hmmm, an AirPort Express that can’t take luggage? So I caught I taxi.

It took an hour just to check in. Luggage would not be checked all the way to Atlanta. My flight was delayed 30 minutes, which put my 2 hour layover in Tokyo in jeopardy. I didn’t make that flight, and caught a different flight through Honolulu. The travel adventures continued! Ha-ha. I made it home safely with all of my luggage. This race was definitely worth it. So many challenges were taken on head on, and overcame successfully.

I enjoyed the race experience. The workers and volunteers were awesome. Japan was amazing. The race logistics and lack of communication was very challenging though.