New sights to inspire a long run

This week's sessions have been enlivened by a new location - Seoul, South Korea!

I'm here this weekend to renew my visa, and have made the most of a few days in a new environment. Luckily, the hotel I'm staying at backs on to Namsan Mountain, and the botanical gardens, so my longer jog this week was a challenge up to the Namsan Tower.

Lots of great running routes at Namsan Mtn - pity they're all uphill!

It's hot and sticky in Seoul. Today it's 35 deg C, with 44% humidity...and I'm pretty sure the past few days have been similar. Even though I got up early yesterday, it didn't seem that much cooler. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful, tropical environment to run through. I started out with a lap of the Botanical gardens, passing through the lotus garden, over wooden bridges and through green arches. Plenty of the trees are in flower, and it was amazing to run through the pink and red scenery, overlooking the city of Seoul in the distance.

Looking out over the Botanical Gardens towards Seoul

I had soon exhausted the interconnected paths of the (quite small) botanical gardens, and so started the 2.5km climb up to the top. There were a few viewpoints along the way, so I used these as an excuse to take a little break. I also met a few other Korean runners taking a similar route, and was surprised to see many others out for an early morning stroll.

Another red faced photo - this time overlooking Seoul!

After about 20min of steady climbing I made it to the tower, and the top of the gondola that I had considered riding the day before (but had run out of time). I was a bit surprised to have made it to the top! It was still closed (doesn't open until 10am), but I had a good look around and could enjoy the view from the base. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want me red faced, panting and dripping in sweat, to enter the revolving restaurant anyway.

Seoul Tower

Heading back down was fun. Wheeeee!! I tried to lean forward and "roll down the hill", letting my legs rotate quickly beneath me, like how Ken Mierke suggests on his website (www.EvolutionRunning.com).

I'm not sure if it improved my efficiency, but was definitely faster going down than up, and my knee wasn't too sore by the end. I missed the turnoff accidentally on the way back (must have been having too much fun heading downhill) so ended up backtracking for a while after exiting near the National Theater.

All up, it took about 70min, so spot on where I wanted to be this week. Even better, I had a quick dip in the pool at the Grand Hyatt to cool off when I returned. Fantastic! I could do this everyday :-)
 

This week's plan:

• Speed: 6 x 1min, 1 min rest - testing out the track with Mark on Thursday
• Short session: 50min - will try for Hash House Harriers on Tuesday night
• Long session: 90min
• Core