Heat & Sanity

Roughly 90 km from where I live, there’s a city named Bien Hoa. There’s nothing mind-blowing about the place, apart from the fact that it has a quite famous mental hospital. The moment I even mention Bien Hoa and their infamous hospital, my students always chuckle. I’m seriously contemplating having my mental sanity assessed by the local psychiatrists. Then again, I hope they have moved on to modern day techniques and have dropped old ones such as lobotomies. Just kidding! :-D

One of the main reasons I love living in South East Asia is the weather, and I can now officially declare the rainy season to be over in southern Vietnam. OK, that’s not entirely true; currently it is the stormy season. Vietnam does frequently get hit by hurricanes which create enormous amounts of damage and deaths, especially in the north of the country. Just a week ago, a storm ravaged some northern provinces.

The end of the rainy season has brought scorching hot weather with temperatures over 35°C. For some reason, this shift from Mother Nature has had a positive effect on my training. For some reason, I thoroughly enjoy running in this heat at midday. For some reason, I just think that’s not normal. The Vietnamese certainly don’t. They must be amused seeing me on another masochistic and torturing run every day. Crazy foreigner!

I’m really getting excited about next week. The Open Duathlon Championships in the Philippines will only be my second Duathlon of the year, but unlike the first one in Singapore, I’m much fitter and will not hold back on particularly the run. It’s going to be full on business and I will try to give it my best. I’m going with certain ambitions, but realism keeps me in check. I have various tactical scenarios in my head for what might happen and most importantly who might be there. The goal is to utilize my strengths to the maximum.