***UPDATE*** Team Inov8 Sweden finished 3rd place today and stood on the podium. Have a look at Staffan’s blog for some pictures and a short race recap –> http://staffanbjorklund.com/?p=1669
Hey welcome back blog readers! Here’s what I got comin’ at ya in this blog:
– Preview of Taining race
– Interview with my new teammate Staffan Björklund
– Acupuncture in China
– Andreas Strand’s best pictures from Taining last year (May 2012)
– Beet juice (what?)
I’ve been laying low – and horizontal – trying to recover from my China “beat-down”. Those of you who read my first China blog remember all the positive things about racing in China. Indeed, those were all motivating factors when I chose to spend the month of September here to race.
I don’t regret the decision, but I have had some challenges. I’m not the strong, fit multi-sporter that I was back in July and August. The food, weather, terrain and hard competition have taken a toll. Thanks to some great teammates and teamwork, I’ve finished a respectable 8th at Wu Long and 2nd at the Zunyi Race. And I have high expectations for the final race here in Taining.
I’ll be racing with Staffan Björklund, who I just met in the lobby last night at the hotel (learn more about him in the interview below…). We’ll be racing as Team Inov8 Sweden at the 2013 Taining Outdoor Quest – a 3-day stage race in the lush surroundings of the Fujian Province.
Preview of the Taining race 2013
Last year this was a four-man team race, but this year it is two person teams: both mixed (guy and girl) and open divisions (two guys).
It looks like the races will take 2.5 hrs (Day 1), 5 hrs (Day 2) and 6 hrs (Day 3). The last two days begin with a long mountain bike, which is good for us. The other highlight is a 16 km paddle through rapids on Day 3. Here are the maps and profile
Here is Team Inov8 Sweden ready to rock!
Meet Staffan my teammate
Staffan and I are symmetrical opposites – he grew up in Sweden, but now lives in the US. I grew up in the US and now live in Sweden. And we both have a penchant for our adopted countries 
Staffan Björkland
Profession: Guide, athlete and adventurer
Hours of training per week: 10-20 hrs
Years of multisport racing: >1 year but …. 10 years of adventuring: 3 years as a professional hockey player, 5 years as a mountain guide in the Colorado Rockies ice climbing and ski mountaineering, and several years competing in “swim-run” racing in Sweden.
Best multisport discipline: Running (in Inov8s of course…)
Your favorite race: Stockholm’s ”Ö till Ö”, a 9 hour ”Island to Island” race involving 65 km of running and 10 km of swimming spread across 22 islands in Stockholm’s archipelago
Best racing memory: Reaching the finish line of the La Ruta de los Conquistadores mountain bike stage race in Costa Rica in 2011. People told me I was not a biker and wondered why I would choose this challenge, but I finished 9th after 4 days of racing over 400 km and 14,000 meters of climbing from the Pacific to the Caribbean.
Funniest racing memory: Racing in the “Island to Island” race last year. I filled up my Camelpak but forgot to close the top and ended up drinking sea water during the 9 hr race. Seawater in the Baltic Sea is not as salty as sea water in the Pacific, but it ain’t freshwater either!
Number of times you have raced in China: 0 – first time here!
Why do you race in China? I got asked – thanks to John Karlsson who connected me to Scott and I thought it would be a cool experience and to learn from Scott as a multisporter. I had to cancel a wedding event for a friend, where I was also going to take photographs. So I’ll send her some pics of me mountain biking in China instead!
Expectations for this race in Taining? To win.
Read more about Staffan at www.staffanbjorklund.com
Climbing in an old mine shaft in Sala, Sweden (2013)
Acupuncture in China
To help with my recovery from fatigue I’ve turned to needles and herbs this week … I’m used to having acupuncture, whether in the US (with my sister Elie), in New Zealand with Michelle Craw, or in Sweden with various Chinese doctors, but this is the first time I’ve had it in China. It was quite an experience.
I managed to “mime the act of acupuncture” with hotel staff and got a map where they circled a building (a hospital?). I headed off on a new electric rickshaw (air quality is remarkably better compared to 15 months ago — all the old rickshaws are replaced by brand new electric ones!).
After some more miming I determined the needles were found on the second floor. I met a doctor that spoke no English, but he had an iPhone with Google Translate. Here’s what he wrote to me after several rounds of fairly strange translations …
Btw, what do you think he was trying to say when his phone showed the following: “will acupuncture anesthesia” ??).
So I got some needles every day for the next 6 days — about 15 from head to toe. I even got some Top Ramon Noodle-tasting Chinese herbs.
It’s rougher than Western acupuncture. At one point I was showing pain on my face (trying hard to hide it) and the doctor broke out with “No pain; no gain.” So they can speak a little English …
At one point I was sharing a room with two Chinese and one gets up — needles still in — and starts smoking! I screamed at him (in English) and he went outside.
When the needles were causing extra discomfort in my legs the doctor’s iPhone said: “You have much damage.” That much I knew …
Andreas Strand’s best pictures from Taining 2013
Last year I competed with Team AXA-adidas (John Karlsson, Jari Palonen, and Simone Maier). We were lucky enough to have Andreas Strand follow along and take some cool pics. Here’s a preview of the type of scenery we’re going to be racing in.
The photographer himself in action
Beet It Juice
One of my new sponsors, Paleo Nordic, has given me some red beet juice to try while I’m in China. A lot of new research points to the benefits of nitrates for high intensity exercise and for training at altitude. In short, it seem that the nitrates from red beets reduces the body’s need for oxygen, which allows the body to perform longer and better at high intensity.
Here’s what I’ve been using à http://www.paleonordic.se
Here’s how I’ve been using it (for a race on Saturday, for example). And yes this weighed quite a bit on my flight to China, but luckily Staffan re-filled me yesterday
- Sunday: 1 Beet-it shot in AM after breakfast.
- Monday: 1 Beet-it shot in AM after breakfast.
- Tuesday: 1 Beet-it shot in AM after breakfast.
- Wednesday: 2 Beet-it shot in AM after breakfast.
- Thursday: 2 Beet-it shot in AM after breakfast
- Friday: 2 Beet-it shots after breakfast & 1 with food at 9 pm (12 hrs before race).
- Saturday: Race 1 shot with food 2.5 hrs before race.
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Apparently a lot of Olympians used it. Read more here (and good blog here).
Has it worked for me? Well, despite my China Challenges, I had two really good races in Wu Long on Days #2 and #3, where I held a high intensity for 5 hrs at altitude … I look forward to using this more as I re-build my body’s strength this fall.
One last thing à Have a look at Staffan’s blog for a few other pictures and stories (in English, in fact!)
OK, time to pack up for tmw! See ya!
Scott Cole and Staffan Björklund of Team Inov8 Sweden
