Posts on Tri Labs

TT Training Spot Near Tokyo: Kasumigaura + Rinrin Road

Ching Kuo — Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I honestly can’t remember when I first heard about Kasumigaura, but I keep coming back for one reason: this is the best TT training spot near Tokyo.

It’s surprisingly hard to find a route in the Kanto area where you can hold steady power for hours without dodging traffic or stopping at lights. Arakawa and Tamagawa are close, but they’re packed with people — a friend recently crashed on Arakawa avoiding a kid, and large stretches of Tamagawa are pretty narrow. Holding a steady TT position on those routes is genuinely dangerous.

2026 Miyakojima Triathlon Race Report

Ching Kuo — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Official result: 8:45:09 | 101st overall Swim 57:27 (includes run to T1) · T1 6:13 · Bike 3:41:06 · T2 3:57 · Run 3:56:26

I wrote up the goals and strategy beforehand in 2026 Miyakojima Triathlon Pre-Race Notes. This post is the post-race review, comparing how things actually played out against the plan.

Race Overview

The All-Japan Triathlon Miyakojima (全日本トライアスロン宮古島大會, official site) is one of the oldest long-distance triathlons in Japan, and 2026 marked the 40th edition. It’s held every April in Miyakojima City, Okinawa, with around 1,510 slots. It’s the island’s biggest annual event and a bucket-list race for many Japanese triathletes.

2026 Miyakojima Triathlon Pre-Race Notes

Ching Kuo — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

After finishing Miyakojima last April, I reviewed the race on my way back to Tokyo. Overall it went pretty smoothly. I forgot my bike computer at the start — nerves — so I rode the entire bike leg on watch data and feel. Coming out of T2 I felt good, but then went out too fast in the first few kilometers of the run. I faded in the middle section and only picked it back up near the finish. This year I’m writing a pre-race log ahead of time so I can compare targets against actual results afterward.

Pre-Miyakojima Heat Acclimatization with CORE Sensor

Ching Kuo — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve had the CORE sensor for a while now. During summer training I run it to monitor core temperature, mainly to check if I’m overheating and need to stop. But Miyakojima will be the first time I bring it into a race.

Miyakojima is late April in Okinawa — island climate plus humidity, daytime highs potentially hitting 27–30°C. Even if actual race-window temps (morning start) sit around 20–25°C, that’s a big gap from my current training environment in Tokyo. Tokyo right now is about 10–20°C; in normal training gear you’re nowhere near meaningful heat stress. If I don’t prepare deliberately, trying to adapt on-site is too late.

Cervelo P5 Refit: Balance Between Aero and Comfort

Ching Kuo — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I had bike fits done in Taiwan before and after buying the Cervelo P5. A year had passed since the last one, and I’d been tweaking small things on my own, so I decided to get a fresh professional assessment. I found an English-speaking fitter through the Triathlon in Tokyo website — Sun Merit Bike Fit Studio in Yokohama.

Fitter Makito Fushimi has solid credentials: IBFI Level 4, Retül Master Level, former Retül official instructor, years of experience supporting UCI professional road teams, and a long track record with competitive triathlon athletes. The session ran about three to four hours.

ASICS Superblast 3 Review: Better Than Megablast?

Ching Kuo — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ASICS Superblast 3 — FF LEAP on top, FF BLAST+ underneath

I’ve been running in the Megablast and Superblast 2 for the past several months. The Megablast is fun but too fast-biased for easy days — I kept drifting above Z2 without meaning to. When the Superblast 3 came out with a new foam setup and more stack, I wanted to see if it could handle more of my training volume without that problem.

Mobility, Strength, and Running Form Assessment

Ching Kuo — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 21:00:00 +0900

I’ve been curious about my left-right imbalance for a while. My Garmin data hints at it, and I can sometimes feel it on longer runs — one side fatigues earlier, the landing doesn’t feel quite the same. Rather than guess, I decided to get a proper running mechanics assessment done by a physiotherapist who could actually measure things.

The value wasn’t just getting filmed on a treadmill. The assessment combined a background interview, lower-limb mobility testing, strength testing with the VALD ForceFrame and Dynamo Plus, and slow-motion treadmill analysis — all in one session. That made the findings much more actionable than a standalone gait video would have been.

Hello World: Engineering a Sub-10 Ironman by 2027

Ching Kuo — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0900

Hi, I’m Ching Kuo. I live in Tokyo, work as an infrastructure engineer during the day, and train for triathlons in the evenings and on weekends.

I started this blog because I kept noticing how much overlap there is between the two. Collecting data, watching for warning signs, making adjustments before things blow up — that’s basically my job description, and it’s also how I approach training. Tri Labs is where I write about this process: the gear, the numbers, and what I’m learning along the way.