New sights to inspire a long run

This week's sessions have been enlivened by a new location - Seoul, South Korea!

I'm here this weekend to renew my visa, and have made the most of a few days in a new environment. Luckily, the hotel I'm staying at backs on to Namsan Mountain, and the botanical gardens, so my longer jog this week was a challenge up to the Namsan Tower.

Lots of great running routes at Namsan Mtn - pity they're all uphill!

It's hot and sticky in Seoul. Today it's 35 deg C, with 44% humidity...and I'm pretty sure the past few days have been similar. Even though I got up early yesterday, it didn't seem that much cooler. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful, tropical environment to run through. I started out with a lap of the Botanical gardens, passing through the lotus garden, over wooden bridges and through green arches. Plenty of the trees are in flower, and it was amazing to run through the pink and red scenery, overlooking the city of Seoul in the distance.

Looking out over the Botanical Gardens towards Seoul

I had soon exhausted the interconnected paths of the (quite small) botanical gardens, and so started the 2.5km climb up to the top. There were a few viewpoints along the way, so I used these as an excuse to take a little break. I also met a few other Korean runners taking a similar route, and was surprised to see many others out for an early morning stroll.

Another red faced photo - this time overlooking Seoul!

After about 20min of steady climbing I made it to the tower, and the top of the gondola that I had considered riding the day before (but had run out of time). I was a bit surprised to have made it to the top! It was still closed (doesn't open until 10am), but I had a good look around and could enjoy the view from the base. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want me red faced, panting and dripping in sweat, to enter the revolving restaurant anyway.

Seoul Tower

Heading back down was fun. Wheeeee!! I tried to lean forward and "roll down the hill", letting my legs rotate quickly beneath me, like how Ken Mierke suggests on his website (www.EvolutionRunning.com).

I'm not sure if it improved my efficiency, but was definitely faster going down than up, and my knee wasn't too sore by the end. I missed the turnoff accidentally on the way back (must have been having too much fun heading downhill) so ended up backtracking for a while after exiting near the National Theater.

All up, it took about 70min, so spot on where I wanted to be this week. Even better, I had a quick dip in the pool at the Grand Hyatt to cool off when I returned. Fantastic! I could do this everyday :-)
 

This week's plan:

• Speed: 6 x 1min, 1 min rest - testing out the track with Mark on Thursday
• Short session: 50min - will try for Hash House Harriers on Tuesday night
• Long session: 90min
• Core

Almost to plan

I know from past attempts at fitness programs, that the most important factor for my motivation is a training buddy. It just makes it more fun! Going to the gym with Mandy made us more competitive, spurred us on to try different things, and was a great chance to catch up on the week's gossip.

So, I've managed to convince (well, I'd prefer to say inspire) one of the other girls in the office, Sussanah, to pull out her running shoes, and come along for the short runs before work. She lives on the other side of the river, so it's a bit of a logistical effort, but I do get to hang out at her place afterwards for a coffee and be greeted at the door with a giggle and a smile from her 1 year old son, Josh.

Mark is also back from his trip to Australia, so I've been joining him for the longer runs.

Crossing the Tuul River bridge

I did mean that I fitted in a few extra sneaky 30min jogs this week! Otherwise, the first two weeks of the training plan have run almost to schedule.

This morning I completed my second long run of the program. Running is a great reason to discover new places, so today I headed south, across the bridge over the Tuul River then turned right towards Bella Vista. For the past few months I've been intending on heading up to the Zaisan memorial, and after the 30min jog from the Diplomat, it was a good time for a break.

The memorial was a nice surprise! It was a bit of a trek up the stairs, but at the top there is a beautiful circular monument with views over UB and a Russian mosaic commemorating the armed forces. Luckily it was a beautiful clear day, so there were great views looking back to the mountains and Zaisan, then scanning around to the city.

Stairs didn't provide much of a "break"

A bit red faced, but a great detour on my run

I didn't rest for too long and headed back down the stairs to complete the loop back into the city. It looks like I was a bit tired by the end, as I caught an outcrop of pavement and went for a spectacular spill, which was definitely not part of my plan. Was a good test of my first aid kit, but not to worry, I have a good supply of band-aids.

Coming up next week:

Tuesday - speed session 6 x 1min, 1 min rest
Thursday - core
Friday - 40min base
Sunday - 70min base

Step 1: Standing up

After 4 months of living in Mongolia with limited opportunity to exercise, it's time to set a goal and get back out there!

My aim? To complete the Gobi Half Marathon on Sunday 23rd September. Yep, 21km of sand running in the desert. Quite an ambitious goal, but it's not every year you have the chance to live in Mongolia, and this seems like the perfect challenge.

It's been a couple of years since I've done any serious running. My poor legs have been a little forgotten whilst I've focused on paddling and building upper body strength, but now I have 10 weeks to switch on my legs again, and build up to the event. 

At the moment in Mongolia it's summertime, days are long with the sun rising at 5am and setting just before 10pm, and the air cool in the mornings and evenings - perfect for training. Billy sent me a training plan yesterday based on one written by Pat Carroll and I'm hoping to tick all the boxes over the next few weeks.

First step. Standing up!

Shoes on standing up!

With shoes on (standing up), I headed out this morning for the first session - Speed work, 10 x 30 sec sprints, with a 1min rest in between sets. After jogging along the streets for around 10min, I realised there wasn't really anywhere nice to train, and I thought back to the beautiful Centennial Park at home, 5min from my house. Non-deterred, I picked a straight section of path alongside the Children's Park and began the sets, a little to the surprise of the few office workers up early on their way to work.

Luckily it was a short session to begin with. I'm a little puffed, and my knee is a bit sore, but hopefully these things will improve over the coming weeks.

It feels good to be training with a purpose again!