Training in the rainy Season

Wow it has been a while, to be honest, I have completely forgotten to post and time has caught up. Oh well better late than never right?

It is rainy season in Saigon again now, which limits times you can run, but also has some benefits. I will just make a quick list here on this blog:

• evening runs will likely get rained out, late afternoon and evening is just when it rains, it is what it is, so if you really want to make sure you get that run in that day, do it in the morning.
• the rain does cool the temperature a little bit, so it can be pleasant running just before it starts
• the reverse can be true on days when it doesn't rain, it will be very muggy and humid, so beware
• beware of puddles, not the normal "oh look there is a puddle" I am talking about, "hey there was a road here yesterday, now its a lake"
• while we are at it, that water gets trapped everywhere, and if you happen to step under a loose paver, splash, you got street sauce all over your new runners and your leg
• if you are a runner that takes motivation from seeing others running you will also find it hard to get motivated as less and less people will be running during the "off season"

All in all i am not sure if I prefer the rainy season or if I detest it, but as I said above, it is what it is and if you want to keep running then there is really no way around it. 

Whats your opinion on running in the rainy season? Did I miss anything in my round up?

Danang Marathon 2015

Preface of the race: my last marathon was in 2013, in Melbourne Australia, this year I wanted to get back into running and decided to sign up to the Danang Marathon in Vietnam. This was my first "destination marathon" which was cool in it self as it was like a mini holiday, leaving from work on Friday evening and coming back Monday morning. Flight was good, Hotel was great, Danang is beautiful, so no excuses. The Danang Marathon is a two loop marathon, meaning that you have to complete the 21.1KM loop twice, which is tough from a mental aspect. The Marathon also features 3 Bridges, 2 of which are quite tame, 1 is a massive bridge, more on that later.

We had a nice Carbo-load dinner the night before

The race itself, Race start was at 4am, which meant a 2:55am wake up, which was different but not a problem at all, nerves kick in at that time and the usual preparations for a marathon (water, vaseline, laid out clothes) all took place. Our hotel was 250 meters from the start line which made commuting completely hassle free. The marathon lets the 42.2K runners start with the 21.1K runners, which I wasn't a massive fan of but to be honest it didn't really bother me once the race started.

The first 5KM

I was running with my dad and another friend of mine, we were chatting, running around 5:30 min/KM pace, Heart rate was around 170 so that was great, i was feeling fantastic, the adrenaline was taking over a little bit and I could see myself, in my inexperienced madness pushing forward a little bit and trying to keep up with runners which had a better base than me.

KM 5 -10

5:45 average pace for these 5KM, first bridge down with no trouble, at this point I realised that my dad was right behind me which was great, because I wanted to run with him anyways, he thought he would hold me back, i knew it would be the other way around ;) I pretty much followed him for the next few KM as we were approaching the big bridge. HR was still stable, I was taking on water well and also having a gel ever 45 minutes (just what the package says to do, not really a strategy behind it, will have to improve that next time as well)

KM 10-15

Here comes the big one, KM 11 saw us approaching the afformentioned "big bridge" (taken from wikipedia) The Thuận Phước Bridge (Vietnamese: Cầu Thuận Phước) is a suspension bridge that crosses the lower Han River at Da Nang, Vietnam.The four-lane, three-span, bridge is 1,850 meters long and 18 meters wide,^[1] and has a main span of 405 meters. Its two major pillars are 80m in height. It is the longest suspension bridge in Vietnam

The way up was quite tough, especially because once again I did not train for this scenario enough, I should have run more bridges in training especially late into the long runs, this would have prepared me for this scenario more, we went up the bridge in 5:45 and then 5:55 to reach the top, on the way down we reached 5:09, taking advantage of gravity and probably shooting through the legs a little quicker than I should have. HR went up to 190+ and stayed there for the next 4K's which was beginning to take a real toll on me.

KM 15 -21

Somewhere around KM 18, I had to let my dad go, as I could see he was running better than me and I was struggling to keep up. I needed a walking break badly, this is before I even completed one loop, so at this point I am struggling mentally more than anything because I start doubting myself and more and more runners are starting to pass me. However during this quick walking break I decided to draft off a local runner by the name of Dung Pham, he was running his first ever Half marathon, and needed a little push and I was needing a little push just to make it to the halfway mark, so we started chatting and miraculously we both started running faster again and he made it to the finish as I turned right to continue, congratulations Dung!! According to Garmin and Strava, I made it to the 21.1K halfway mark at about 2:03/ 2:04, not the best time but not terrible either. I got to see Sarah at the halfway mark, which was great and I ran/ hobbled/ walked with her for about 250/ 300 meters which was awesome.

The second loop

I am just going to summarise the second loop in one big bloop because there isn't really roo much too say, I crashed hard, my heart was not ready to run much further so I had to take frequent walking breaks and as soon as I would run my HR would shoot up to 190+ again to try to get me to stop. at every aid station I got ice to put into my hat to keep me cool as well as water to pour over me. with the walking breaks my pace deteriorated, however I kept moving forward, that was the main focus. The aid station volunteers were fantastic, everyone of them was super enthusiastic, except the 1 guy on the last one who was sleeping on the table ;) but me and the other volunteers made fun of him so its all good. Towards the end of the second loop adrenaline kicked in that this finish was actually going to happen, however at that point I had massive stomach cramps which made running difficult. I met Sarah and my parents about 100 meters before the finish, Sarah gave me my German flag, which I didn't even manage to hold up correctly as I crossed the finish line, however finishing was overwhelming. A massive congratulations to my dad who beat me by an estimated 5 - 7 minutes ( Official results pending) and a massive thanks to Sarah for getting up to see the start, the halfway and the finish and also a massive thanks to my mum for being there at the finish. Thanks to Very for the photos, and Hajo for the training tipps and runs, keep them coming.

Quick mention to the organisers: the race was fantastically run, the police blocked off almost all of the roads (not a common thing in Vietnam) the aid stations were great. Danang is a beautiful city and the finisher area was great as well. The sunset party had all the makings of a fantastic party, however exactly as we rocked up, as one of the first guests, a torrential downpour started which meant we stood under an umbrella with some really nice Japanese guys and shared a corona but then decided to make a dash for a taxi ;) If you are looking to run a destination marathon next to a beautiful beach, I highly recommend the Danang Marathon, I will be back and better prepared in 2016.

River Run Saigon

I finally ventured out and tried a new running route as well, its not quite Venice, but hey its a pretty nice run.

On Saturday I decided to go on a run with a German friend of mine, it was raining in buckets which had advantages as well as disadvantages, more on that later. We started at City Garden Apartments which is where my mate lives, so the first Kilometer is through little Alleys which are full of vegetable and meat vendors, which is really interesting if you have never seen something like it before.

after that you have to cross a major road on a bridge, which is the only part of this route I wouldn't recommend, but you can easily start from the other side. After that the route becomes very easy and is fully customisable

Basically you just follow the river, there is a nice public garden all along the river, so you are not running directly on the road, you are running with the river on your right shoulder and the garden on your left shoulder, not something you get to say too often in Ho chi Minh city.  There are a few workout machines such as these :

Along the river, which if they are in use can make for a tight squeeze, that's what I meant with it being a good thing that it rained before, because no one was using them.

The run itself was great, I felt much stronger than I have in a while, I didn't really feel too fatigued, my HR didn't spike and I was able to hold a conversation while running, all of which felt great. 

The sidewalk is in pretty good condition, there are a few times when it dips a little bit, which you would normally not notice, however because it had rained and was still raining, a few puddles had formed. The route is great because there is a bridge about every 750 meters, which you can cross to turn around and run back on the opposite site, this means this run can be anywhere from 2K all the way up to 20K without having to run the same route twice. 

Call for comments:

• Please let me know if you have run this route before, and know any great places along the way? 
• want to join up for a run together?
• any other runs you can recommend?