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Keren Miers, the General Manager of four of Oakwood’s seven properties in Tokyo, Japan is an avid amateur triathlete, marathon runner and bicycle rider, when he is not busy running his properties. Like a fine wine, he seems to be getting better with age and has become a serious, “front of the pack” competitor in Japan and elsewhere in Asia and the Pacific. In his three races this year, he has recorded one Age Group win and two second places.

Q1: Exactly what is a triathlon?
A: Triathlons are multi-sport endurance races consisting of swimming, cycling and running in immediate succession over various distances. I prefer the longer versions these races, maybe because I am a bit of a glutton for punishment and love to challenge myself. Ironman races have a swim of 3.8km (2.4miles), a bike ride of 180km (112 miles) followed by a full marathon of 42.2km (26.2 miles). But my favourite distance is the 70.3 or Half Ironman races of 1.9km/90km/21.1km (or 1.2mi/56mi/13.1mi), mainly because it is only half the training and only half of the pain during a race!

Q2: When did you complete in your first triathlon?
A: I caught the triathlon bug way back in 1988 when I was living on the Sunshine Coast in Australia and have been competing on and off ever since. I have raced in Australia, Japan, Korea, Saipan, Singapore, Hawaii and in Florida in the USA.

Q3: Which was the biggest, most famous race that you have competed in?
A: That would have to be the Ironman World Championships on the big island of Hawaii in October, 2007. I was very, very lucky to win a lottery slot to be able to compete there. But I was trying to qualify directly for the race by placing in my age group in another Ironman race, but I had just fallen a few places short at Ironman Japan the previous June. Have wanted to race in the Hawaii Ironman ever since I had seen reports about the races on TV in the 1980s and it was my long term goal to make it to the Big Island one day. It was an amazing experience to take part in what is supposed to be the most grueling single day sporting event on the planet.

I was also able to compete at the 70.3 Ironman World Championships in Clearwater Florida in November of 2008, after picking up second place in my Age Group in a qualifying race in Singapore.

Q4: What makes the Hawaiian Ironman such a challenging and grueling event?
A: The oppressive heat and the lava fields! The swim is held in a beautiful bay with water so clear that I could see coral, tropical fish and even sea turtles. So that part was relatively easy, even though I lined up with 1,800 other competitors at 07:00 AM in the morning! Most of the 180km bike course is through desolate, barren lava fields where you need to fight strong winds and intense heat for 6 hours or more. Then just to finish, you need to run through parts of these lava fields to complete a full, 42.2km marathon in around 4 hours. The run to the finish line through thousands of screaming supporters was one of my most amazing experiences ever.

Q5: What was your finishing time?
A: I finished in a time of 12:04:25. This was a few minutes slower than I had hoped for and was 36 minutes off my Personal Best Ironman time of just over 11 hours and 29 minutes, but I was very happy. It was very tough, especially on the bike where the head winds on the last section totally demoralized me and I slowed right down. On the positive side I picked up 138 places on the marathon by steadily passing people and only having a handful pass me. My final position was 1205 out of over 1800 starters and was about where I thought I would finish. But to me it was really all about just getting over the finishing line and soaking up the atmosphere of such a huge sporting event. I could not wipe the big smile off my face on the run to the finish in front of the huge, cheering crowd.

Q6: How do you train for an Ironman?
A: By doing lots and lots of swimming, biking and running! At the peak I was doing about 20 hours of training per week with 8km of swimming, 6 hour bike rides and 2 to 3 hour runs. All done early in the morning before work, after work and during most of the weekends. My wife was very supportive, but I must stay that it did test her patience a lot and I can’t say that I blame her!
Q7: Why do you do this?
A: You might not believe it by reading this, but triathlons are a lot of fun. I get really challenge my limits and to travel to some scenic places to race at. And I have a great bunch of training partners in Tokyo from all over the world who work in prestigious jobs in multi-national companies. We train hard and then have a few beers to wind down and to celebrate the races that we do. Post race karaoke is the number one tradition following races in Japan!

Q7: Final question- what are your next goals?
A: My major goal is to stay healthy and injury free as training does put a lot of stress on your body. This season I plan to do two races in Japan and then to return to Australia for a race at the end of the year on the Gold Coast. But none of these will be of the full Ironman distance, after completing four I need to take a long break!

Thanks Keren, and the best of luck for your future races.

About Keren Miers
Keren Miers hails from Australia and is the General Manager of a portfolio of four Oakwood properties in Tokyo, Japan. Namely Oakwood Residence Akasaka, Oakwood Apartments Shirokane, Oakwood Residence Aoyama Oakwood Apartments Roppongi Central. He has over 30 years of professional experience in the hospitality industry, including over 12 years in management positions with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts in Australia and in Micronesia. Keren has been with Oakwood Serviced Apartments in Tokyo for 8 years.

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