Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

So much for taking advantage of the good running conditions in Yangshuo - my back definitely didn't want to play ball today (and didn't enjoy the day's travelling that much, either).

Quite a long day travelling - Yangshuo to Kunming, which is only scheduled as 5 hours on the train (1100km), but ended up about 12 door-to-door through a wait between two connections, long trips to the stations at each end, and at the Kunming end dropping in to the bus station to organise my ticket south to Laos in a few days' time (one of the major remaining pieces of the logistical puzzle). Shouldn't have been too surprised, given Yangshuo's touristy reputation, that in 10 minutes' waiting at the bus stop I had eight motorbike taxis or pedicabs offering their services (I'm sure the locals could balance on the back of a motorbike with a big pack on, but I wouldn't fancy myself to do it). I've read that this doesn't happen much elsewhere in China, which would fit in with my experience.

The train trip didn't go quite as smoothly as my other ones in China; the Guiyang-Kunming one was about 20 minutes late to start with (not sure where it began but I think it might have been as far away as Beijing) and ended up about 30 late after a couple of slow sections (i.e. it had to slow down to a relative crawling pace which is only marginally faster than the average speed of the Melbourne-Sydney run). Got to see more spectacular Chinese civil engineering than I did spectacular Chinese scenery (probably at least half the distance is in tunnels), but still got enough glimpses to feel as if I'd seen something worthwhile. Eventually made it to the hotel around 9.

C • Bus 7

In Yangshuo. Headed north along the river and immediately discovered I'd fallen on my feet; was out of town within 400 metres and onto a quiet road above the river, with almost no cars/trucks, although a steady procession of scooters, and one or two contraptions with small truck bodies and two-stroke engines which weren't going much faster than I was. Ended up in a couple of villages at the far end. Quite cool (although warmed noticeably when the sun rose higher towards the end), and mist in the river valley which shielded some of the views but added to the atmospherics. Good to take advantage of running opportunities while here; the conditions won't be as good again, either (probably) in terms of places to run or in terms of the environment (everything else from here will either be at high altitude or in tropical heat). Felt reasonable.

The morning and early afternoon was spent exploring the countryside. It's a thing to hire bikes (or scooters) here, but having seen some of the driving on the way here (not least the driving of some of the vehicles I was a passenger in), I thought that might be taking my chances, so I booked a tour. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this "tour" consisted of a car which provided transport to a couple of scenic spots (for myself and the Chinese family I was sharing the car with) and that we were left to our own devices once there. The viewpoints were spectacular, particularly the first one, over the Li River with jagged karst peaks all around (and a small flotilla of motorised rafts below, which is the other main way to see the place).

Was pondering whether I'd take probably the last opportunity for a while for Western food, but didn't, and was rewarded with the unpromising-sounding-but-wonderful-tasting "noodles in miscellaneous sauce".

C • food choices 2

Started to head out but back a bit iffy today (woke up stiff so this wasn't a massive surprise). Was rather taken aback on walking back to the hotel to see the square in front of the shopping mall occupied by police with riot shields and someone wearing a balaclava throwing plastic bottles at them. Given the lack of commotion (to say nothing of any obvious reason for riotousness at this time and location) I assume it was riot police training.

With the World Cup now out of the way, it's time for the next stage - the overland journey ending up in Singapore. The first step was today, heading to Yangshuo (famous for its jagged karst mountain peaks). Managed to negotiate my first few bits of independent travel in China without too much trouble (including working out the local public transport to town - high-speed rail stations in China, like airports elsewhere, are often a fair way out of town - and thus being able to brush off the taxi touts), although Yangshuo is pretty touristy so the degree of difficulty is relatively low (plenty of English menus, for example). Handed over a picture of the district to get to town - said picture is on the 20-yuan note.

And I look forward to the day when a climate change sceptic on the internet, when he (it's almost always a he) is presented with convincing evidence that he is wrong, concedes that he's wrong and backs down from the original comments.

Orienteers taking over the world department: an e-mail came in today saying that the agricultural climate guides project (the one which was responsible for my SA road trip with Simon Allen in July) has brought in someone to do, among other things, the data visualisation work - one Jonathan McComb.

C • J Mc 1

Run around the sprint controls, a bit closer to the first start than I would have liked (the controls were put out quite late because a lot of taping needed to be done). Spotted a couple of bits of additional taping which needed to be done, a control which I moved slightly because it would have been knocked over in the first five minutes of the race had it stayed in its original position, and a control official who I moved slightly because she would have been knocked over in the first five minutes of the race had she stayed in her original position. Felt reasonably good running; Achilles fine once warmed up. Significantly less humid than it has been (dewpoint almost got down to single figures).

I thought this area and event would be pretty special and it was - seemed to be very well received, with the only disappointments I heard relating to competitors' own navigation. The organisation also went more smoothly than on earlier days; it's clearer now who is responsible for what. Still felt quite relieved when 4.35 ticked past and the time limit for complaints had expired (without receiving any).

Was always planning to take the day off today but as it turned out woke up with the most painful Achilles I've had for a while - I suspect it would have loosened up running but another reason why a rest today wasn't a bad idea. Much of the day disappeared on a trip to be involved in the official opening of an orienteering museum (yes, really) in a small town a couple of hours' drive away, north of the airport.

Looking forward to tomorrow: it should be a great orienteering experience (just hoping for a lack of controversy).

C • sprint race 5

After another attempt at a jury meeting (having pressganged Anna into the jury after various others were eliminated on the grounds of either conflict of interest or being unable to be found), I made it out to the event and jogged round all the controls - as always in such exercises, being slowed down by deciding what to do with any issues encountered, although I had the sense my body might not have appreciated anything more ambitious. (It is the first time for a while I've managed to do something on four successive days).

Relieved that today seemed to go pretty smoothly - if anyone noticed that the map at control 42 was slightly wrong they haven't told us about it. (The map shows two low crossable walls not joining but in fact they do - not sure if this was an error which wasn't picked up or late building work - so we made the control as visible as possible from all likely approach directions on the basis that if you see the flag you don't usually ask too many questions).

And we finally managed to conclude a 24-hour saga late in the day. In case you're wondering, the hold-up was that a written response to the original complaints, which we're used to being a rapid and straightforward process, is much more complicated in a place where any written communication has to go through a formal process, and without a written response to a complaint there cannot be a protest. In the end I sought, and received, approval from the IOF to refer the complaints directly to the jury - once that was done (and a certain juror had finished her race) the actual meeting was relatively quick.

One benefit of the drawn-out jury process was that I had the chance to have a good conversation with Lars Lindstrom (Danish coach and one of the jury members), and get a bit envious of their resources (their annual high performance budget is roughly ten times ours).

C • HP 11

Running (using the term loosely speaking) some middle distance controls before the start of the World Cup. Doing a lot of walking on the steeper ground but didn't feel too bad otherwise, nothwithstanding the humidity. Everything was more or less OK from that angle, and the event seemed to be going smoothly for a long time - just a pity that it's blown up in controversies over people going through forbidden areas (something still unresolved at the time of writing).