I’ve always been one for adventure. There’s just something about packing my bags, jetting off and seeing new lands, meeting people, making friends, and soaking in the diverse range of cultures from all across the world that appeals to my wandering soul.

Over the past few years, I’ve grown to be an avid distance runner. I’m constantly seeking new challenges, new training grounds, and new philosophies that can broaden my horizon, and further develop my potential as an athlete.

On Feb 3, I arrived in Iten, Kenya – a promising location for both my adventure cravings and my athletic ambitions. It is my first time in Africa, and I will be here for 7 weeks. I know not a single person in this village that I will be staying.

Journalists, runners, friends and family have asked me on countless occasions about this decision to train in Kenya, and their responses have never failed to keep me entertained.

“Will you be chasing (or chased by) animals?”

“What will you eat?”

“Do you know anyone there?”

“Who will you be training with?”

and of course the million dollar question, “Will you have access to WiFi???”

My answers to all these questions were always the same – I don’t know, and I’m going there to find out.

“Why not just go back to the USA? Or somewhere else less risky?”

Why Kenya?

My decision to go for a 7-week long altitude training camp in Kenya rests not in one determining factor, but several combined:

1)   Ideal temperatures (11 degrees Celsius to 20 degrees Celsius) – cool but not cold. In the last 2 winters I went through in the United States, I’ve had niggling tightness issues in my right hip (2015) and left ankle (2014) that didn’t allow for me to get in good training during the winter months. I recovered on both occasions to continue to have great seasons, but the cold was never something I particularly enjoyed dealing with. With this being an Olympic year, and me having graduated from the University of Oregon, I now have the freedom to train somewhere warmer and dodge the niggling injuries that the winter months have brought on me in the last two years.

2)   Altitude. Iten, Kenya sits at 2400m above sea level, 300m higher than Flagstaff, Arizona, where I did altitude training twice in 2015. Having adapted to Flagstaff’s 2100m altitude, I look forward to the challenge of higher altitude, and believe that if I can manage it well, it will bring an added benefit to my fitness.

3)   The psychological benefit of training with the best distance runners in the world. Kenya is home to the best marathon runners in the world, hands down. No other country comes close. There are many factors that play a part in their success (climate, altitude, genes, etc.), but more than anything, I believe it is their fighting spirit and desperation that drives them to the top of the sport. People often say that the marathon is a brutal sport. And for myself, the Japanese, the Australians, the Americans or the Europeans, when we toe the line, that’s exactly what the marathon is to us – a sport. For many Kenyans, it’s more than that – it’s war. It’s life or death. Win, and there’s a chance for them to break out of the poverty circle, race in Europe/USA, and win money for their family back home. Lose, and they starve. When it comes down to a toe-to-toe battle for the line, the man going to war is going to beat the man going to play sports 9 out of 10 times. This fighting spirit, this desperation, this racing aggression, this hunger for success is what I hope to pick up over my 49 days in Kenya. And if I do, I believe that attitude alone is something that will shave minutes off my next marathon performance.

4)   The opportunity for an exciting new experience. I’ve never been afraid of taking the path less travelled. Be it transferring from the National University of Singapore to the University of Oregon, or choosing to make my living as a professional runner in Singapore rather than pursuing the traditional path of a business degree older (ie. Get a real job!), I’m not one to shy away from the unknown. Rather than fear it, I choose to embrace it. And the learning experiences from these unknown paths have made me into the person I am today.

5)   Last but not least, cost of living! Living and training in Kenya is far, far, FAR more affordable than training in the USA, Europe, Japan or Australia. Professional runners aren’t the richest people in the world, and I do have to watch my pocket strings. That being said, a big shout out to Flight Centre Active Travel Singapore and Singapore Athletics, who are jointly supporting me by covering my travel and accommodation expenses. The support from my sponsors make it possible to devote more time and energy towards my sport.

Karibuni Kenya (Welcome to Kenya)

After more than 24 hours of travelling, I got into the High Altitude Training Centre (HATC) in Iten, Kenya on 3 Feb, Wednesday 9pm. There wasn’t much to do apart from grab a quick bite and head to bed. After two days off from training, I was ready to get back into training on my first day in Kenya.

Day 1

Waking up before 6am in the morning, I threw on my shoes and went on an orientation run with my Swiss roommate, Phil Arrnold. This was the first time I was training at such high altitude (2400m / 7900ft), so I had to be very careful not to train too hard before my body had sufficiently adapted to the altitude. (In comparision, Flagstaff, Arizona, where I trained previously, sits significantly lower, at 2070m / 7000ft altitude)

AM: 15km easy (included 10 x 100m strides)

PM: 11.2km recovery + 20min core

Day 2

AM: 18km easy (77min 48sec)

PM: 10km recovery (46min)

Day 3

24.8 km easy long run (1hr 50min)

Day 4

REST

Day 5

Hundreds of runners, locals and foreign athletes alike, met for a 15km loop called the “Boston”. As the name suggests, it’s a loop of endless, rolling hills, that gradually drops in net elevation for the first 70% of the run, before brutally rising in elevation in the last 30%. Very similar to the nature of the Boston Marathon course, and it’s no hard to see why the Kenyans are so strong on hills and when competing in the Boston Marathon itself.

AM: 1km warmup, stretches, 15km Boston Loop (60min 58sec), 3.4km cooldown

PM: 10.4km recovery + 45min core.

Day 6

AM: 3.2km warmup, 10km hilly fartlek (1min on, 1min off – 39min 18sec), 4.8km cooldown (18km total)

PM: 10km recovery

Day 7

AM: 17.7km easy (73min)

PM: 8km recovery

Week total: 162km (101.2 miles)

Since being hit by the plantar fasciitis injury in November, I have struggled to string together training weeks that cross 100km (63 miles). Having taken some easy months of training in Singapore (December, January), coupled with intensive medical treatment courtesy of the Singapore Sport Institute and Kin Teck Tong Traditional Chinese Medicine, I have managed to finally return to my training load of old. Training in the cool, dry weather and soft ground of Kenya certainly helps as well. It’s great to be running 100 miles (161km) a week again, and I am happy to put my injury woes behind me, and keep these solid weeks of work going as I prepare for my next marathon.

I think that the next 6 weeks will be exciting, difficult, tiring, and inspiring all at the same time. I don’t think Singapore has ever had a marathon runner stay for this long in Kenya, and by being the first, I hope to not just become a better runner, but also establish connections in Kenya that Singapore Athletics, and all my other running friends across the world, can leverage on in the future.

-Rui