Nine-time marathon runner Johnny Tieu recently bagged himself another first place win at the District Race Hong Kong, the world’s first urban exploration race. He speaks to Grace Brewer about his training for the race that’s based around an app.
Where did your fitness journey begin?
Growing up in New York City, I was always an active kid, running around non-stop and always wanting to be outdoors to play, but my fitness journey really started in college. I hated my first 5km run, but I did surprisingly well for my age group. One thing led to another and I was hooked. I questioned what if I trained more? How much faster could I get? This is what motivated me, and this self-motivation is still a driving force for me today.
You’ve taken part in races all over the world, can you list a few.
Listing off the top of my head, I’ve run marathons in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Paris, along with Half Marathons in Hong Kong, Bali, and Berlin. I completed the Bear Mountain North Face Ultra, and the Malaysia Spartan Race Ultra, as well as Spartan races in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Australia, and the US.
The District Race was the first urban exploration race in the world and 3,500 people took part in Hong Kong. Can you explain what this consisted of?
The race itself was a modern day interactive scavenger hunt; it encouraged runners to explore Hong Kong and go to areas they would normally never find if it wasn’t for the thrill of collecting points. All participants were armed with their phones and the District Race app, which showed checkpoints all over Hong Kong Island, and challenges located around famous sights. It was up to each racer or team to collect as many points as possible during the two-hour timeframe.
You scored 24,700 points (350 above second place). Have you ever participated in something like this before?
In the past, I have done scavenger hunts and point-to-point races in New York, and these skills and strategies were transferable to the District Race. My strategy was to run smart; I tried to collect as many checkpoints in regions that made sense – there was no point in trying to get to all the checkpoints if it meant travelling further than I needed to. I was running with my partner Yan through the entire race, and he placed second. The one reason there was point difference was due to the speed challenges and how we each completed based on the app timer.
How did your training differ from other marathons or obstacle course preparation?
My day-to-day training focuses on overall fitness for speed, endurance, and strength. I’ve always tried to push myself further and test my own limits. Focusing on cross-training and getting out of your comfort zone can help you prepare for all kinds of situations. The one thing I did do before the day of the event was look at the map and gather an idea of what kind of route made sense based on points and geography. That played a major role to strategising how I was going to run the race.
What advice would you give to people competing in interactive races like the District Race?
You have to know your own skills and abilities, such as how fast you run, how well you can climb hills, and how you deal with the heat. Knowing this will allow you to plan how far you can realistically run and what checkpoints you can tackle within the allotted time. For me, it helped that most of the checkpoints were situated around my training routes in Hong Kong so I knew the most efficient ways to those areas.
What has been your hardest race to date?
One of the hardest races to date was the Spartan Ultra Beast Race in Malaysia. That was 45km with over 70 obstacles. I definitely had a mental and physical breakdown, but it was also one of my happiest accomplishments to have won.
You also work as a fitness instructor, and your workout videos on Instagram look brutal. What are your top three exercises that push you when training?
My favourite exercises to rev things up and really push yourself include assault air bike sprint intervals, kettlebell swings, full-body snatch weightlifting, and burpee sprints – that’s right, X amount of burpees, then sprint as fast as you can for X amount of rounds without a rest.
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