Skip to main content

Nationals Runner-Up Rakunan H.S. Training in Kochi With Support From Medical Science University Students


17 members of Kyoto's Rakunan H.S. boys' ekiden team are currently on a training camp at Kochi's Haruno Sports Park. At the Dec. 26 National High School Ekiden Rakunan became the first all-Japanese team to break 2:02 for the 42.195 km course, finishing 2nd overall. After training in Kochi last year, this camp is the team's second time there. "It's warmer here than in Kyoto so it seems easier to move, even when we're doing hard workouts," said 2nd-year Yuichiro Kojima. 

In addition to their regular training workouts, on this camp the runners are also working with students from Kochi Professional University of Rehabilitation. The university students are providing medical science support across a range of areas such as measurements of lactic acid, an indication of physical fatigue levels. "In school we're learning a lot of highly specialized information," commented one of the students, Shogo Nakayama. "I expected it to be difficult to convey this knowledge to the students effectively, so this has been a good learning experience."

At a session on Jan. 5, Kazuya Nishitani, a physiotherapist overseeing high altitude training in Hida Takayama, Gifu, conducted a session on drills to increase ankle spring as a way to counter fatigue from running. While watching Rakunan athletes do the drills he gave them feedback such as "Why don't you try to extend your whole body a little further when you spring?" and "You're still overexaggerating a bit, so try to hold back more."

Rakunan 2nd-year Daichi Shibata was positive about the experience, saying, "If what we learned today just ends here today then I won't get any better. If I keep doing these drills I hope it will help take my running up another level or two." The Rakunan H.S. boys will train in Kochi through Jan. 7.

source article:
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

RigaJags said…
I know it's a weird question but does Rakunan H.S. have a short hair policy? All their runners have the same very short cut and I noticed that even Miura and Wakabayashi (Juntendo and AGU now) who now have longer hair were with that same very short cut back when at Rakunan.
Not relevant I know but just something I noticed while looking at some of Rakunan races and that make it very difficult for me to distinguish their runners haha.
January 16, 2022 at 7:16 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...
2 comments
Read more

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...
2 comments
Read more

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .
77 comments
Read more