Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

An enjoyable weekend in the Swiss mountains, with only one disappointment - although the cloud was high enough for the Jungfrau and Eiger to be visible from the base, there was just enough cloud spilling through the gap in the range from the south to mask Jungfraujoch, which was a pity after going to the trouble of going up there. Otherwise a great weekend.

Conditions on top of Jungfraujoch: -17, 40 km/h winds. These are almost identical conditions to those in which I ran in Winnipeg on Christmas morning 1989. I must have been a bit more crazy in those days. (I did actually put long sleeves on for that one).

It snowed quite a bit in Geneva over the weekend, which may make things interesting for training this week.

A longer run before heading up to the mountains for the weekend. Two loops, the second of which was done with the colleague I missed yesterday. Started off around the UN complex, then essentially a reverse of Tuesday's run out to the Arve river, although part of it wasn't accessible because a gate was locked. Not a bad run, although tired somewhat in the last 10 minutes; no issues with the knee.

It was supposedly -6.4 this morning, enough for me to get out the long sleeves, but it didn't seem that cold in the city - I think the urban heat island was in full swing. If we go up the Jungfrau tomorrow (which we will if the weather is good) the cold-weather gear will be more severely tested - the forecast for there is minus 24 (although at least there's not expected to be much wind).

A shorter run based on central Geneva. The original plan was to meet up with a work colleague who's over here for something else, but he wasn't at the appointed meeting spot, so after going round the block three times I kept going. (I thought he might have overindulged at his conference dinner last night, but it turned out his phone alarm had reset itself to Australian time).

There was no snow where I was staying, but seeing quite a lot of it on some cars driving into town suggested that it wasn't too far away, and so it proved - climbing 20 metres in the old town was enough to put me above the snowline. There weren't huge amounts, and nothing on the road (just on grass, parked cars and similar purposes), but still more than I've seen for a while. Quite a reasonable run again with no injury issues; this is starting to get encouraging, although the 90 minutes I'm planning for tomorrow will be a sterner test.

I then went to work to discover that a journalist who I've worked with extensively over the years has gone public with exactly how the Australian deals with climate change (http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/11/the_austra...). You can reasonably assume that what's been reported has a ring of truth. If any of the actual or threatened lawsuits actually get as far as a courtroom (unlikely in my view) I suspect I'll probably find myself in the witness box at some point, not least because on occasions she would send me copies of what she'd filed and a comparison with what actually got printed has the potential to be relevant. A court case over the Australian's coverage of climate science is an appealing prospect in some ways, although those who have to pay the legal bills may not feel quite the same way.

And some results I got today mean I'll have something of a bombshell to drop myself next Thursday. Watch this space...

Headed for the hills on the south side of Lake Geneva, home to some vastly expensive real estate. Often this makes for nice running country but not always so here, with stretches next to too-congested main roads (I've learned quickly that Geneva's peak hour traffic can be ugly). A solid climb up onto the Cologny ridge which I handled reasonably well, then some nice stretches up on top, especially in the quiet lanes round the back of the (probably extremely posh) Golf Club de Geneve. Tired a little in the last few minutes on what was my longest run for several weeks, but no injury issues (other than a bit of Achilles tightness early) and generally reasonably happy with this.

Noticeably colder this morning, although not enough to prompt me to drag out the long sleeves of the gloves. It's trying hard to snow tonight but isn't quite managing it (yet).

Took to the water after work; Swiss pools don't seem to like early mornings. (I think in future I might try lunchtime). Felt like I was struggling a bit, and somewhat uncomfortable with the crowds at the end; the lane designations changed in mid-swim but I don't think some got the message that the fast lane was now the slow lane, and I don't think they appreciated the rest of us getting in their way.

Thorny diplomatic question of the day: when you want to include, in an official UN agency document, a reference to interesting weather in two east Asian countries which have been in the news a bit lately, what do you call them? I'm hoping the 'Korean Peninsula' will be acceptable. If I have to refer to the region as 'the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea' I might decide the flood wasn't really that significant after all.

C • Diplomatic Question 1

Took up Eoin's suggestion and headed south for the Arve river, although Bout-du-Monde was about as far south as I got; will be a nice launching pad for longer runs. It became a bit adventurous at one stage on a small riverside track similar to the one at Studley Park east of the boathouse (especially as it was still semi-dark), but in the end that track hit a dead-end. There was then a solid climb back out of the valley which I felt stronger on than on previous runs in the last week. It was trying hard to snow, but couldn't quite manage it.

The referendum I mentioned yesterday is being sponsored by the Swiss People's Party, whose previous formline includes a campaign poster featuring several white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss flag. Their opponents aren't taking it lying down though - I saw a poster today with a (white) sheep and the words 'Sheep vote Swiss People's Party'. There's another proposal up to harmonise tax rates for wealthy people between cantons - since this one's being pushed by the Social Democrats I think one can assume that the intended direction of harmonisation is upwards.

Felt considerably more lively than I have in other runs in the last week, although pace was still down a little early on; possibly the Garmin isn't fully picking up distances in the more heavily built-up areas? A pretty solid effort, at least by recent standards (I wouldn't exactly have been getting excited about a run like this two months ago), and knee continuing to hold up reasonably well.

Bits of practical suburban exploration: I found the local swimming pool, and while I didn't find the laundromat I was looking for, I did find two others which were closer and had longer hours.

It's also not only in Victoria that this weekend's election day: this weekend is set down for one of Switzerland's periodic clusters of referenda, with a corresponding abundance of posters. One of the polls is over the question of extending weekday shop closing hours to 8 (supported by the Liberals, opposed by the unions and the Greens). Another potentially more explosive one is to automatically deport any 'foreigner' convicted of crimes, which sounds nice in theory until you realise that, as with a lot of European countries, it is very hard to become a Swiss citizen and many of these 'foreigners' have been there for decades. (Not that Australia has a lot to boast about in this department, remembering the case a few years back of the person who was deported to Sweden, where he'd last lived at the age of five weeks - Max Walter had better watch out if he gets up to mischief in his later life).