Aquaman Vietnam runner-up speeds up training for the return day

Nguyen Thi Khanh Ly, 32 years old, was the runner-up of Aquaman Vietnam's first season with a record of swimming 2km in 45 minutes 40 seconds and running 21km in 2 hours 5 minutes. In the tournament at Tra Co, Khanh Ly was the fastest swimmer, 5 minutes ahead of the second person, but fell behind in the running part, accepting second place.

On October 29, the second season of DNSE Aquaman Vietnam returns with a completely new venue in Phan Thiet. The return of the first biathlon tournament in Vietnam has been long awaited by Khanh Ly. She said that after winning runner-up in 2022, she was always excited, waiting for the feeling of conquering the tournament again. Determined to win the championship, from the beginning of the year until now, the athlete living in Da Nang has been diligently practicing to improve all parameters.

Considering swimming as her "trump card", Khanh Ly invested time and effort into this content. From the beginning of the year, athletes born in 1991 spent 9 consecutive months correcting and improving their swimming techniques. The total accumulated distance at the pool is more than 500km, not including swimming sessions in the ocean. "Swimming is a technique-oriented subject. There are only a few familiar movements: leaning on the water, pulling the water, pushing the water and relaxing your hands in the air, but to practice correctly and optimally is a long process. This is a passion. I'm the oldest so I'm dedicated to training," Ly shared.

Khanh Ly's forte is swimming long distances like 5 or 10km. These distances require more endurance than speed. Each week, athletes swim 4 times in the lake to practice swimming skills and 1 session in the ocean to practice combat. At Aquaman, the swimming distance is only 2km. The runner-up of season one said that this distance required more speed, so the training plan had to be adjusted after 6 weeks of competition.

Prioritized exercises are those that increase arm strength, optimize technique, practice speed, and balance heart rate when ashore at a stable level for running. Besides, female athletes also get used to competing in big waves. "Fortunately, Da Nang is in the season with strong waves. I can practice and get ready for all competition conditions," said the 32-year-old athlete.

Brick exercises familiar to bi and triathlon athletes are also prioritized by Ly to get used to the transition between disciplines. A week before race day, Ly added a transition session to the lesson plan. This exercise is done by moving from the sea to the transition area, trying to quickly put on equipment for the run to optimize time. "Currently there are very few documents and lesson plans about triathlon, so my training process is mainly to learn from last year's tournament. The goal at Aquaman Vietnam 2023 is to shorten swimming by 5 minutes", Khanh Ly share.

High-speed running is not the season one runner-up's forte. To upgrade herself, over the past year, the triathlete originally from Quang Nam participated in many marathons, including 42km at MetaSports Marathon Imperial Hue 2023. She also ran many 10km events to improve her speed and set a PR of 47 minutes. However, Khanh Ly believes that this milestone is not significant because she is still too passionate about swimming. "Running is only at a maintenance level. I don't see myself breaking through too much yet," the triathlete assessed.

Currently, Khanh Ly increases dynamic drills (skip A, skip B, rolling kicks...) to warm up her muscles and increase her stride. These exercises help prepare muscle groups for movement at high intensity, avoiding injury. Similar to the swimming content, Khanh Ly expects the running part to be shortened by 5 minutes compared to last year.

According to the female athlete, season two of DNSE Aquaman Vietnam has greater appeal. The first plus point is that the tournament comes to a completely new city - Phan Thiet - where Khanh Ly has never competed. This makes her more excited and curious about the upcoming experiences. The success and impressions from season one also attracted more high-achieving athletes and veteran triathletes, increasing competition and challenges.

"Swimming is always the most emotional part when facing waves, the deep sea and inner fears. However, I consider this a free, enchanting experience," the 32-year-old athlete affirmed. Last year, Khanh Ly had many interesting competition experiences. She swam 5km from the big island to the small island in Ly Son, winning third place in the 10km ocean swimming tournament in Cam Ranh after more than 4 hours. In December, Ly participated in the world ocean swimming championship in Thailand. Aquaman Vietnam is an opportunity for the Quang girl to verify her training results and make a name for herself in the aquathlon community.

DNSE Aquaman Vietnam 2023 will be held on October 29 with three distances: Aquaman (swim 2km, run 21km), Half Aqua (swim 1km, run 10km) and Sprint Aqua (swim 500m, run 5km). In addition, the tournament has content specifically for children (swimming 200m, running 1km). The tournament took place at the NovaWorld Phan Thiet complex. This is a large project, with a scale of 5 billion USD. The project owns a long, calm beach. NovaWorld Phan Thiet also has a complete infrastructure with many flat, standard roads for athletes to compete.