There’s an idea that you can run faster by doing lots of long, slow-distance running. By running in Heart Rate Zone 2, you can add a lot of distance and build your running capacity. It does seem to work for the Japanese, who have produced many excellent marathon runners over the years and it is something that seems to be working for me.

Running 14.5 kilometres around Ho Tay now feels easy, which is a massive improvement compared to the same run two months ago, where I was hobbling around afterwards.

I’m starting to feel comfortable running the lake each evening. I just wish it wasn’t so hot here (if I’m not taking my own camera to film a vlog, I’m getting used to running topless, which is a horrific sight for the locals). I also wish this training approach didn’t take so damn long.

🚂 Training Summary

It’s been a reasonable week of training, but this is taking up so much of my time now. Every day at least 3 hours are getting swallowed up by long slow runs and all the other bits of training - sometimes strength training, sometimes just some yoga and stretching.

I have managed to increase my calendar-week average to 89 kilometres; I had two short runs midweek at 4.6 km each to give my legs a bit of a rest. Next week I’ll be aiming for 100 km. And after that, the hope is to increase each week until that reads 100 miles instead!

🧠 Running Through My Head

This week, I’ve had the song Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus stuck in my head while running. It started towards the end of one of my Ho Tay loops. And now there are a couple of stretches towards the end of that loop where I remember about it, and re-earworm myself. Hopefully, the song is stuck in your head now too.

🗓️ This Week I Have Mostly Been…

🎵 Listening to: Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus
📚 Reading: About Ekiden races and Japanese training methods.
🎥 Watching: I’ve been watching Instagram reels and stories of Sara Eydmann’s attempt to run the North Coast 500 in Scotland and Dylan Coyle’s attempt to run 2000 km from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.

📺 In Case You Missed It…

You didn’t miss much this week, only the one blog post about me publishing less at the moment.

🚀 Next Up

I’m really hoping to increase my running distance by around 10% each week, but without the exercise duration increasing by quite as much each week.

🏁 Finish Line

That’s all for this week. I’m knackered. Time to watch some TV and attack myself with a massage gun.

Thank you for reading and for all your support.

Take it easy,

Phill