Seoul Marathon Training weeks 2 and 3.5

Sitting here on a brisk (-3) Sunday morning, thinking that I should be out there, or should have finished a long 

session. However, a series of events have occurred this week which do not allow me to do so.

Incident 1: 

Towards the end of last week (training week 2), I notice a pain in the Achilles. Me being me, I decided to continue on but would ice frequently after training. Please note I did not reduce. The pain then gradually built and built until on Wednesday it got the point of no more running, and I needed to walk a long descent at the conclusion of a painful training session.

Belated response to incident 1: 

No running Thursday until today (Sunday), maybe tomorrow. Yesterday I went to the hospital to see the Doctor about the problem. Where I am in Korea there doesn’t seem to be the equivalent of sports physiotherapists (lots of Thai and Chinese traditional massage, which I’m going to this week). Anyway, off I went. The doctor’s English is very limited, although to be fair miles better than my Korean. I went in, motioned that I run, and pointed to the problem area. He felt it and said ‘injection, no run’. I was swooped off like a wailing starling to the next room, where an anti-inflammatory jab was popped into my bottom. Hold for one minute was my next instruction, and then it was further along the conveyor belt. My next stop was a large room with 20 wooden beds, set at about knee height. I was laid down and my food wrapped in a warm cloth. This was for around 20 minutes and felt very good. After this the cloth was replaced with 4 suction pads, attached to a machine that monitored time. Time was set to 15 minutes, and the pads felt very similar to ultrasound therapy. Following this a nurse came and gave the area a good old rub. So all of this totaled around one and a half hours and cost 6 New Zealand dollars! Cheers. It does feel much better today but that could be the injection still masking the pain.

Incident 2: 

Sick. Maybe to do with the cold, or a little too much running.

Response to incident 2: 

No running until I return to full health. And a strip down of my training system! Like this blog, brief. I’m going to try a less is more approach to the next 2 phases of my Seoul marathon training. Currently I’ve been looking a variety of ideas from online articles. Hopefully by mid-week I will have something in action!

Enjoy those km's!

Week 1 Seoul Training

Brief be the aim, so brief will be the game! Writing this bog...not running

Really pleased with how my first solid week of training has gone. Managed 10 sessions, with a variety of tempo, speed, hills and recovery. My body has pulled through quite well, although my right ankle did feel slightly worse for wear after my final run this morning. I just put this down to the 25km road run I did yesterday, and not running that far on the road in quite a while.

Here are the token stats for the week that was:

Avg Distance:	14.39 km
Avg Time:	1:11:09 h:m:s
Count:	10 Activities
Distance:	143.90 km
Time:	11:51:35 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:	3,625 m
Avg HR:	142 bpm
Calories:	7,382 C
Max HR:	192 bpm
Avg Elevation Gain:	362 m
Max Time:	1:54:34 h:m:s

This week the aim will be to build on from here. Just a bit more mileage, but more or less similar kinds of sessions.

This week it'll be 2 months until the Seoul Marathon. Today I managed to spend 4 hours getting the necessary flights sorted out, so just need to confirm a place to stay and we'll be ready to go!

Lowest running temperature this week....minus 9! Cheers Korea

Happy New Year

It has been bang on a year since I started this blog, and it’s fair to say that as the year went on, the posts tailed off! However, due to the lack of racing and consistent training because of injury, writing things became quite difficult.

So for the New Year I’m looking at some new goals for the blog. Keeping it brief is something I’m going to try out for the first 3 months. No need for a quirky story or background information on some place. So I’ll just focus on running and training.

 However, away from this I have just recently finished a book which is in serious need of a mention; the book is Running with the Kenyans. The book is about a journalist/free-lance writer (Runners World, Guardian and Times), who has a soft spot for running so packs up his family and heads to Iten for 6 months of training with the ultimate goal of successfully completing the Lewa Marathon. Along the way he also aims to learn as much as possible about what makes the Kenyan athletes so World Class. Initially he goes seeking something that many a reporter seeks, a one word explanation of how and what makes Kenyans such amazing athletes? But as the story progresses he understands that one thing alone doesn’t make the athlete, a variety of things do. To conclude, a very interesting read if you’re in need of a lounger for the beach or lake this summer.

My running is now, well as of this morning, back into the consistent cycle. One run doesn’t quite make it consistent but I do have a serious plan and long term target of the Seoul Marathon. There will be more to follow on this.

This morning’s run was a shock to the system as now I’m back in Korea in the depth of winter (-2 degrees). Coming from spending the past 2 and a half weeks in tropical bliss in the Philippines, running without a top and swimming at least 15 times a day, this was tough. However, the sun was shining today, making the world of difference.

So into the year with a bang! Brief and informative will be the aim on the running front!

Happy New Year!