Training Log Archive: Middleditch

I made it to Surin in one piece but my mountain bike didn't fare so well. Cycling is out for now (until I can coax the bike back to life with a hammer) and I'm too scared to go running around here as most houses seem to be armed with a resident pack of dogs. I'm staying in Kut Khlon, a small village in the back of beyond, in a traditonal Thai house with no air conditioning or running water and a bucket for a shower ... it could be an interesting few days.

Wherever you are in the world though, Friday nights always seem the same. We, just like millions of people around the globe, spent the evening sat in a rice field at a pig farm with a group of katoeys (who all displayed the feminine qualities of Wayne Rooney), drinking beer and cooking chicken feet on an open fire. It was just like living back in Sheffield.

Following a steep seven month learning curve my language skills have progressed to include an impressive Thai vocabulary of approximately ten words (which is still more than I achieved in two years of German lessons at school). I'm finally in a region of Thailand where nobody speaks English and so primed and ready to show off my newfound language skills, only to find that everybody here speaks some incomprehensible Cambodian dialect instead. All that wasted effort for nowt.


Isaan home cooked food which, in a manner strangely reminiscent of Manchester United's season, started off ok and then got gradually worse: banana curry (the gastronomical peak) with insects (start of the decline), followed by snails and crushed, fermented fish heads. Yum.

C • to be fair... 5

No time for training today. Currently in the middle of nowhere, halfway through a 15 hour bus journey to Surin in northeast Thailand. I'm glad a forked out for a high roller (9 quid) VIP class bus ticket. Not because it's posh (it ain't) but because I hate to think what the alternative 3rd class bus must be like. I could probably fit in a training run by running alongside the bus as it struggles up anything resembling a gradient.

My final day in Chiang Mai so finished the trip with a standard couple of laps of the moat. I'm going to miss this place, especially the food and coffee. But not the the tuk tuk drivers who seem intent on cutting me up every 30 seconds before covering the city with their toxic exhaust fumes.

February has turned into a complete write-off on the training front. A couple of desultory bike rides and trips to the gym form the subtotal of the exercise that I've managed this month. The sub 35 minute 10km bet seems a long way away. Time to get back on the wagon. Starting right .... tomorrow.

Evening visit to the gym in Chiang Mai after a day trip up Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand, at 2,565 metres. My first Himalayan peak conquered, Thai style. Climbed the imposing north face via an arduous road ascent up to BC (Base Cappuccino), followed by a shuttle bus service from the car park up a steepish bit of tarmac of no more than 100 metres to ABC (Advanced Base Cappuccino). We took a well earned rest here before the final push over the Hillary Step to the summit ... via an escalator. We knocked the bastard off. Sir Edmund would be proud. I hope that peak bagging in Nepal next month proves less gruelling.


Doi Inthanon summit stupa with the exit from the escalator to the left.

C • Gain 2

Drove up to Mai Sai, the northernmost town in Thailand, for a short trip into Myanmar. The border town of Tachileik is the biggest hell hole I've ever had the misfortune to visit, even worse than Liverpool (although perhaps equally worthy of the title of European Capital of Culture, which some genius bestowed on the scouse metropolis in 2008). Spent the entire time being hassled by a continual stream of very annoying touts trying to sell me fake cigarettes and viagra. Or perhaps it was a highly sophisticated marketing campaign and, after looking at me, they all independently concluded that these were the items I needed most? Eventually gained a new country's immigration stamp after a lecture about needing a new passport due to insufficient space - only a couple of years now until I can get a New Zealand passport.


Tachileik in Myanmar


Baan Si Dum, a weird as place full of snakes, skulls and bones in Chiang Rai

Approaching the end of another 30 day stint in Thailand so time for a visa run. This time we're heading on a road trip to Myanmar. Drove 200 km north from Chiang Mai today through the mountains to Chiang Rai near the Burmese border.






Wat Rong Khun. I'm not really a fan of religious buildings but this one was cool.

Late night trip to the gym at 700 Years stadium after spending the day visiting various stuff around town.

Out to the local track, with the intention of doing some faster running, but I was totally knackered by the time I got there so gave up. That's dedication for you. I should probably take advantage of the excellent sports facilities here during my final few weeks in town as the sub 35 minute 10 km goal seems a long way off at the moment.

The air pollution starts to increase soon, caused by the local farmers burning their rice fields en masse, creating a thick cloud of smoke over the entire city (or to use Dark Peak terminology - a reet pea souper). It's about time to move on so spent the afternoon searching the budget airline websites for ideas. It didn't take long to decide as I found a flight from Bangkok to Kathmandu for 90 quid, so heading off to the mountains of Nepal in a few weeks.

Cycle out to Huai Tueng Thao Lake followed by a short run on the treadmill.