Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Looking at the list here of what makes you a suspected religious extremist in Xinjiang, most readers of this would probably be advised to stay well clear. (I'd fail on the second point as well as the first, and will probably fail on the third - surely something must have been lost in translation here - when the time comes).

(It has been suggested, probably not unreasonably, that the fact that this got leaked to the New York Times suggests that someone very senior is not happy about what's going on).

C • List 9

Sprint course in Singapore, at Bishan in the northern suburbs (a course from a training event they ran a few weeks ago). Arrived there and was slightly disconcerted - there were apartment towers everywhere but mostly only small buildings on the map. I quickly realised that most of the apartment towers are open on the ground floor (I guess to help with airflow) and were mapped as canopies, with the lift/stair wells as the "buildings". Seemed a fairly straightforward course at first but a bit more technical in the second half, and I managed the classic sprint thing of getting myself onto the wrong side of a wall at the third-last.

Calf was still not 100% and I probably wouldn't have gone out had I not had a particular reason to, but it didn't get any worse through the run and has come up reasonably afterwards, so hopefully it will be right for my next planned run on Wednesday.

Not sure whether I can count this as a 30th orienteering country or not - it was a course but not an event. (Italy was once in the same category for me but I've competed in a couple of events there since). Also good to get a chance to look at Singapore suburbia - it seemed to be a fairly typical public housing estate (most Singaporeans live in public housing so this doesn't have the social connotations it would in a lot of Western countries).

Now on the way home, after doing a seminar in Singapore this afternoon (at the invitation of a former Bureau colleague who's working here now). Seemed to go OK.

C • It totally counts as orienteering 11

Travel Geneva-Istanbul-Singapore. Nothing terribly noteworthy about this trip; didn't sleep as much as I would have liked (hopefully that will be addressed tonight). A more northern route than usual on the first leg to avoid a major storm which was affecting the French Riviera (daily rainfalls in the 200+ range in places; Geneva is rainshadowed from this direction). Had a missed approach coming into Singapore - the pilot was (quite reasonably) worried about potential outflow winds from a nearby thunderstorm.

I'd originally had thoughts about doing a short session in the hotel gym on arrival, but with the late flight (thanks to said go-around) and a slow passage through immigration, it was nearly 8 by the time I got to the hotel (by which time it was a case of go directly to hawker food complex, do not pass Go).

Calf seems to have settled down a fair bit and was only at minor nuisance level this evening, so I'm still hopeful of getting out on a map tomorrow.

Didn't quite go to plan. After a successful effort on Wednesday and with no urgently pressing commitments this morning, I decided to aim for 70-80 minutes and head up through the Old Town on the way to the Cologny hills. Left Achilles gradually warmed up, but the problems proved to be elsewhere; my right calf was becoming increasingly tight from about 20 minutes onwards. By 30 minutes I'd decided that I should probably head for home, and by 40 I decided that I wasn't even up to running the rest of the way back. The pity of it was that it was shaping up as a reasonable run.

It's been uncomfortable to walk on through the day (although a bit less so in the afternoon), so I don't think there's much doubt I made the right call to come in early. The question is how long-term an issue it is; hopefully not very (and the fact that it was a gradual deterioration and not an abrupt event like this time last year is perhaps encouraging in that respect). Might struggle to add a 30th orienteering country to my list though - the Monday morning plan was to run a sprint course in Singapore.

The flight's at 6pm so during the day I went into when-in-Rome-do-as-the-Romans-do mode - doing a fairly standard Geneva thing on a gloomy November day of heading for higher altitudes in search of brighter weather (in my case, St. Cergue, close to the one decent area that was used in WOC 2012). At 1050m it's pretty much right on the snowline and provided much better mountain views than under the haze at lake level (as well as a good lunch mostly of local cold cuts).

Lakeshore intervals. Ankle stiffness had gone but Achilles quite sore. Almost gave it away after the first rep but persisted, and ended up gradually improving as the set went on (although not at what I'd consider close to full pace until the last three). Got through the full set again, so that's another indicator of progress.

Warm-up and down. Found a new way of getting along the length of the Paquis quarter which didn't involve going out to the main roads (surprising that I haven't seen this before given that I've stayed in this quarter on multiple occasions over the last decade). This took me to past a new addition in the plethora of Swiss recycling bins - there's now one for "capsules de cafe".

C • Déchèterie 1

Ankle was stiff and sore when I got up this morning - not quite sure why. Awkward to run on so I decided to swap today's planned session with tomorrow and took to the water after work instead. It's a bit less crowded in the evening than it is at lunchtime but there were still moments when negotiating the turns was a bit like negotiating the roads of Laos or Thailand. A rather slow session but otherwise OK.

The news came through not long before I started that there had been a significant (6.0 or 6.4 depending on whose numbers you believe) earthquake in the vicinity of Luang Prabang. Reports so far suggest not too much damage (and no casualties), which surprises me a little given local building standards (or the absence thereof).

The plan was to head out to one of my favourite old Geneva haunts, the path along the Arve river (although this run wasn't long enough to get out to the power station). It was clear from early on that as long as my Achilles was prepared to play ball (which it eventually was), I was up for this, and it ended up being perhaps my most enjoyable run over the last few months - surprised it wasn't a bit faster. Flowing quite well over the later stages, after a decent climb up the hill out of Bout-du-Monde. Nice running morning, still, dry and about +4.

With the new railway (connecting Geneva with the French commuter towns to the south) only a few weeks away from opening, I thought the bit of the path which had been blocked off for building works for about the last three years would be open again, but no such luck :-(.

I haven't quite managed to adjust to the time zone yet this time, which is an advantage in the morning, but not so much so in the afternoon.

Achilles pretty bad today - definitely the worst it's been on this trip. Probably overdue for a bit of treatment, so will appreciate next week's version of Attack of the Killer Physio (tm), I suspect. Closest I got to exercise was walking to and from the office (about 20 minutes each way), and an excursion outside at lunchtime during which I noted that there was no giant inflatable object outside UN headquarters to mark World Toilet Day this year.