Hello from Laos,

The training for Japan continues. And while I still don’t know what’s been going wrong with my body over the last few weeks, I’m finally getting out of that dip. Even if I do still feel like I’m stuck on a hamster wheel at the moment 🐹 

I’ve started taking some supplements with iron and folate, been eating more good foods like pineapples, and I’m trying to prioritise sleep a bit better. I’m still a little stressed, as I’m currently stuck in a cabin with an appalling internet connection, which makes getting any actual work done impossible. But hey-ho we can’t have everything.

🚂 Training Summary

This week has felt like my first step in recovery from whatever wiped me out and killed my calf muscles a couple of weeks ago. I got my first half-marathon done in a while, even if it was ludicrously slow. Another long run done today, 30 kilometres in 3 hours and 22 minutes. I could have gone further (and faster), but a cat got involved. That’s a story for another day, though.

We had the storm in Hanoi on Monday, and I travelled to Laos on Wednesday, which wiped out two days of running. It would have been silly to run every day anyway, so the enforced rest was useful. I still managed to run 70 km this week, I think this okay, given I only managed 43 km the previous week. I didn’t want to jump straight back to 100 km+ training weeks in one go and put my recovery back to square one. So this feels like a win. I’m hoping to build again next week, and then push the training on a lot harder through August.

☀️ Photo from the Road

🗓️ This Week I Have Mostly Been…

🎵 Listening to: The Running Voyager Podcast 
📚 Reading: Still dipping in and out of A Passion for Japan - John Rucynski
🎥 Watching: Joy and I have been finishing up Ted Lasso, which has nothing to do with running, but we rather enjoyed it anyway.

📺 In Case You Missed It…

It’s been a bit of a short week as far as getting much out there into the world. I did write about what happened when my training plan fell apart. Hopefully, a future blog will cover how I’ve managed to pull everything back together; alternatively, I may just write about how a cat interrupted my run instead.

🚀 Next Up

We’re aiming to have our Laos video out next week. Then we’re off to China, so I’ll be running around some new places. Who knows, maybe I’ll finally be able to start getting a video out every week!

🏁 Finish Line

That’s all for this week; it’s not been the most productive, but I’m starting to get back on track.

Thank you for reading and for all your support.

Take it easy,

Phill