March Running Review

March has been a highly productive month of running for me obviously culminating in my race at the Seoul Marathon which I’ve documented well over the last few months. But otherwise I am happy to have run 210km and ran 2226m of  elevation in March with one day left.

My month began with me still preparing for my marathon on March 19th, I ran my last long run before Seoul on March 3rd which was a 31km run. The previous long run was my longest of my preparation and this one was designed specifically to have me running fast when fatigued. I ran the first 10km at 5 min/km the second 10km at 4:30 min/km and the third 10km at 4 min/km followed by a 1km warm down. The third 10km was difficult but I was able to achieve this and this gave me some real confidence going into a marathon that I’d be able to sustain my goal pace when tired and fatiguing. After this run I felt ready to race.

Following this run I began my taper which I find almost two weeks works well for me, i did a solid interval session the Tuesday 7th which gave me 12 days to get fresh for the marathon. This included travelling the 11 hour flight to Seoul a week before the event and acclimatising to a completely different climate then i have been used to and training in. The Mid North Coast of Australia experienced one of the hottest summers on record this year and when i arrived in Seoul it was minimum temperatures of below freezing. I managed three small runs before race day and felt fine with the climate by the race.

Obviously the marathon added 42.2km to my monthly total and the week post marathon I spent exploring the area I have been staying. I managed five runs in the week after the marathon totally just under 40km. The first run on the Tuesday post marathon I was quite stiff and sore and struggled to run 6km but this run really loosened my legs and I felt mostly fine the rest of the week.

This week I have spent exploring the Gwangmyeong region and getting out on the trails nearby which have helped me add to my elevation that I have achieved for the month. Some enjoyable trails in this area and in stark contrast to running trails in Australia there is no animals to look out for. When running trails in Australia particularly in summer I am constantly on the lookout for snakes or goannas but here there is nothing to worry about. I’ve seen a few squirrels but otherwise just bird life on the trails.

Another good month of running comes to an end. It’s been a month where I have spent most of the month running and exploring a foreign city, it’s one of the great joys of running exploring a city on the run while travelling. I achieved my long time goal of a sub 3 hour marathon so it’s been a great month of running for me.

Flying back to Australia on the weekend which means no more fun trail running in Korea for a while. It does mean it’s back to running the beach and coastal paths and trails which I am just as excited about.

I didn’t end up finding the Zelkova protected tree in the Gwangmyeong trails much to my disappointment but there is one more day left in March so there is still hope.

Seoul Marathon the obvious highlight of March 2017.