Vietnam Mountain Marathon 2019 Pre Race Blog

Training for Vietnam started about a week after the Beacons Way 100. On the grand scheme of things I’d recovered relatively well. Obviously your not 100% after 100 miles but I could be a lot worse. The main thing I struggle with is sleep – I just can’t/don’t properly, Iv been like that for years. Since the Brecon Race and now (17/9/19) Iv really been struggling with sleep… it’s caused me a lot of issues.

With the miles in the legs we decided to go for some speed work (if you could call it that! I’m not very fast and my legs were struggling to get going & turn over after the beacons way) Just as I was starting to feel loose again and was getting used to running on the flat and was slowly building a slight bit of speed up, I picked up a little niggle in my hamstring tendon where it connects to my glute, resulting in me having to do the workouts half heartedly, but feeling fine on the low intensity mountain runs at weekend so I managed to get by and keep fit.

📷 Chris Bland

Training physically was only a small part of the equation for this race. The main factor for me personally was getting ready to be running in a hot, humid climate. I personally know I don’t run well in the heat and I sweat like mad & the temps could range between 30 & 40 degrees but it’s only 63 miles I told myself… what could possibly go wrong!? A lot… hahaaaa! With a bit of research we came up with the conclusion that heat training in the sauna was the most practical approach & I also took it upon myself to start running on hot sunny days not in some shorts & a vest but a full tracksuit and bobble hat. I had to get comfortable being uncomfortable!

Another big factor is hydration. Personally I believe sodium plays a massive role in your hydration. I just can’t see how it can’t when you sweat as profusely as I do and the agonising cramp iv had along side it & the science iv read with how it relates to cramp and performance in general. Iv just had a debate on Facebook in the last 24 hours and apparently you don’t need salt? I beg to differ though. So to cut a long story short iv kept my hydration strategy simple. Iv doubled up on my sodium intake and all I can do is trial and error it on the day! Iv got used to listening to my body in the past 12 month lets just hope we can keep communication up during these hot 63 miles ha.

In the midst of finishing the Beacons Way and Prepping for Vietnam I also had my own event to organise and put on, “The Whitworth Trail Marathon, Half & Ultra Marathon” This took a lot out of me mentally and physically- way too much for my little pea brain to handle. I was also working away from home on a crap job while trying to organise an event, finish work and keep on top of my own training plan whilst trying to sort out accommodation, transfers, visas and making sure I’d not overlooked anything seen as though I would be here almost 2 weeks prior to the race acclimatising & taking a much needed break. If I’m to be totally open about it, the whole lot left me feeling like total crap, burnt out, stressed and border line mentally ill!

The event went really well may I add though and I’m looking forward to next year but being under less stress and pressure. So a week before travelling here I wasn’t feeling very well at all & I felt like pulling the plug on it. I decided I’d get my arse here 1st and decide how I feel after a bit of a reset.

So I made it to the Airport and managed to make both flights totalling 14 hours stopping via Charles De Gaulle Paris for 2hours before eventually getting to Hanoi at 6.30 am Monday morning September 9th.

At first I felt relieved, really chilled out, no stress. I’d made it!! I slept like a log the first night. The second night not so good- I think it was the jet lag kicking in. Day 3 I felt strange, really strange. Abit low, really tired and lethargic. Lost. Didn’t know what to do with myself. I’m here now and what do I do?? Like iv nothing to do…no work…little training as I’m tapering…. and iv got a little niggle and my physio has told me not to run up any hills (there’s hills everywhere I look) as it will aggravate the injury prolonging the recovery. The injury’s also altered my training plan to be running the bare minimum in order to try and be fully recovered! It’s also raining heavily. I’m a million miles from home on the other side of the world pretty much. Alone. It’s a totally different Sapa to what I remember it in full swing back in 2016.

So I hired a scooter and batted out the strange feels for a couple of days and spoke to some close friends. I got told to chill out & it’s just my body winding down and that it’s ok to do nothing at all. So about 5 days later I’d settled in to doing nothing and got used to having nothing to do and got my head around that- this is how it’s going to be & that it’s not normal or healthy to feel how I was back in the UK the past 8wks or so.

So my daily ritual is:

▪️Get up whenever (no alarm but the Vietnamese all seem to totally disappear at around 10pm ish and then wake up at sunrise about 5am and let me tell you they don’t talk they shout so around 5am the whole hotels wide awake and outside it sounds like I’m in New York all I can hear is horns pipping)

▪️Go to breakfast and plate it up- usually it’s boiled or fried rice, fried egg or scrambled eggs, some kind of fruit (pineapple, watermelon or apple). It varies daily & I get what I’m given so after iv plated it up il drink 2 cups of black coffee and take it down to my room.

▪️Go for a 1 mile walk around the lake to open my muscles up OR do the run on my training plan.

▪️Stretch off and do the recovery exercises given to me by physio for the injury.

▪️Eat Breakfast.

▪️Troll social media.

▪️Then I go on a scooter ride to a shop about 20 miles away along a pass through a valley to a guys shop that sells massive bananas and frozen yogurts. I like it here because he leaves me be ha.

▪️I then have a few more hours on social media.

▪️Then I go for my evening meal in a Vietnamese local haunt. Everyday I have steamed rice, green vegetables (no idea what it is- it looks like seaweed & spinach in garlic) and fried tofu! It costs 90,000 VND which is around £3.

▪️I then go back to my room around 7pm’ish (1pm UK time) and watch a film or documentary’s on YouTube until I feel sleepy!

▪️Repeat!!

Here’s some pics iv taken in the last 10 days:

So iv got 2/3 days left now before the race starts. Iv had a dramatic change in diet, no oats, no nut butter, no lentils, chickpeas, quinoa or colourful salad bowls. But lots of rest – I think this has given me the bad back & neck pains which have appeared from nowhere possibly from being sat & lay around too much? I have the little niggle that’s still lurking in my hamstring/glute.

So I still have mixed feelings on how to tackle the race & what effects will the stressful build up have? Any? None? Luckily it’s a 9pm start so I have 8 hours of darkness to get as far as I can before the sun comes up and starts blazing! Everyone in the world can tell you to just relax and enjoy it and take your time…But at the end of the day it’s ALWAYS a race. I don’t care what anyone says it’s ALWAYS a race wether your enjoying it or not haha. I intend on a relaxed start and then the rest…I dunno yet, it is what it is. I know what I WANT to do but wether it will play out like that on the day…who knows??? This is the current weather forecast too but it’s hardly right!

I’m also unsure as to run with poles or ditch them? Iv always said I’d only use them on 100 milers, Races with extreme climbs and descents or Races where I need to carry a heavy load for a long time….so from my personal point of view it’s looking like I’m leaving them behind but I think I could run more efficiently with them? But that’s just cheating right? Useing poles to “Run”! I’m probably gonna open a big can of worms on this one! I tried having a debate with a few Vietnamese mountain goats the other day for my mate Charlie Sharpe - but they rudely ran away from me!

Right I’m off for my steamed rice, fried tofu & pond weed!

tiếng chào nhau (Good Bye)