A Week In Chiang Mai

I was in Chiang Mai this week, and it was really nice to get away from Hanoi for a bit. The training plan for the week was to just do a couple of runs to maintain fitness and recover a little bit from three weeks of pushing forward.

I recommend visiting Chiang Mai for anyone who likes Thai food (khao soi is one of my favourite things I’ve discovered here). It’s a very relaxed little town, and really affordable. A nice double room with an en-suite bathroom and a pool to recover in can be had for under £20 a night. I think my average spend for a curry, rice and smoothie/fresh juice is around £2.50. The only difficult part of Chiang Mai is the weather (most afternoons here have been 37°C).

Back to Hanoi next week, although a trip to Laos is in the works for July :).

Training Summary

No strength training this weekend, but an awful lot of walking around Chiang Mai. For what was meant to be a down week, I’ve still matched last week’s mileage - even though I only managed two runs.

The first was a late night 10 km run around Chiang Mai - even after 9pm it was still 31°C. It was nice to jog around the old town without worrying about traffic or air pollution.

The second run was an early(ish) morning half-marathon. It was already around 28°C when I started, and was 32°C by the time I finished. It was nice to complete my first half-marathon distance in a long time, especially given the 360 m of ascent on the run - all in one long uphill. I needed to run/walk the last patches of the last two kilometres, which was more down to the heat getting to me than the legs going.

In four weeks of training, I’ve gone from struggling to make it 14.6 km around Ho Tay to managing a 10 km and a half-marathon in the same week. It feels like my body is remembering how to do this exercise lark.

The Week Ahead…

Next week will be back in Hanoi, I’ll be upping the mileage a little bit, but more work needs to be done on the strength and mobility aspects of training.

The other exciting bit of work for the week ahead will be sorting through the footage I’ve already got - which includes footage of last year’s Apocalypse 50 ultramarathon, two Hoan Kiem Lake runs, and my week in Chiang Mai… stay tuned and keep an eye on the YouTube channel.

In Case You Missed It…

I wrote a blog post which includes a cute photograph of an elephant. But other than that, it’s been a quiet week for publishing bits.

Anyway, another late Sunday newsletter for me.

Thank you for reading and for your support.

Take it easy,

Phill