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Shibui Leaves for Final Training Camp in Arizona

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/090714/oth0907141759011-n1.htm
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/f-sp-tp0-20090714-518491.html
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/090715/spg0907150514000-n1.htm
http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20090714-OHT1T00246.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Marathoner Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) left from Tokyo's Narita Airport on July 14 for her final training camp for August's World Championships marathon in Berlin. Shibui will be based at 2100 m elevation in Flagstaff, Arizona, but will train even higher. Her coach Takao Watanabe commented, "She'll be going as high as 2700 m, but the details are still a secret. I hope the change in evironment will help her get stronger." The oxygen level at this altitude is only 15% compared to 21% at sea level. By training in such an evironment an athlete's heart and lungs will become stronger. "We'll be listening carefully to her body," said Watanabe.

In April Shibui began to experience pain in her left thigh which kept her out of training. Watanabe said that at Shibui's first training camp in Flagstaff last month, "If she did even a little speedwork her face started turning blue." As a result the camp became base training. In her comeback race, the July 5 Sapporo International Half Marathon, she was 23rd in 1:14:09, her personal worst. "When I come back from the States," laughed Shibui, "I'll be a different person."

Shibui admitted some fears, saying, "If things don't go well the pain might come back," but added strongly, "Things have been feeling better and better." Asked about her goals for the World Championships she said, "When I get back I'll have an answer for that. If I'm feeling 80%....Well, what does a percent mean? You can't describe how someone feels with a percent. I don't want to overthink things since I'm going to run either way. But if I get at least 80% of the work done then I'll be ready to go in the main event."

As part of her training Shibui will run the July 26 San Francisco Marathon and currently plans to return to Japan on Aug. 10.

Comments

Brett Larner said…
Morimoto hasn't exactly been producing fireworks lately either.
Kevin said…
Why would she run San francisco marathon? There's not gonna be much recovery time for her for Berlin. Shibui looks tired. Running San Francisco would take away so much energy from her to use for berlin.
Kevin said…
There's should be news on Yoshimi Ozaki. She ran the season fastest time in 2008-2009. So far no one has crack 2:23:30. At least give her some credit.
Kevin said…
Tomo morimoto doesn't deserve to run. She finish so last to those wacoal runners. And what's up with her 1:15:00 run at yamaguchi. She finish 30th. There are so much better runners than her.
Kevin said…
I want to join Japan running universities. Can you help me sign up? I want to train with them and run ekidens.
Brett Larner said…
Dennis --
Shibui said she's just running SF as a training run. As far as Ozaki, I would put something up if there were any info about her. The last thing I saw said she had been injured and was just getting going again:
http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/yoshimi-ozaki-to-build-base-one-more.html

As far as getting into a Japanese university, I've told you before, feel free to contact me through the email address on my profile page.

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