Where Might the National Marathon Team Train for the Asian Games? ·…

Last weekend in Lanzhou on the high-altitude Jinchengya plateau, the Nagoya Asian Games' Chinese marathon team's "final selection race" officially concluded. Feng Peiyou and Jia Erenjafen took first and second in the men's race, while Ciren Cuomu and Wu Bing emerged in the women's field. Together with reserve athletes Zhaxi Ciren and Lu Ying, they form the new generation of China's marathon squad for the Asian Games.

With the roster settled, and according to the selection rules previously released by the Chinese Athletics Association, the preparation for the Nagoya Asian Games will officially enter its third phase — pre-race training camp. This "new army," bringing together athletes from Guizhou, Tibet, Jiangsu, Henan and even independent backgrounds, now faces the task of sharpening up. The duration and location of the training camp have become focal points for the running community.

Based on past preparation patterns, whether for major events like the Hangzhou Asian Games or the Paris Olympics, the Chinese marathon team's training camps typically last between 10 and 12 weeks. This period both ensures athletes can build sufficient event-specific endurance through systematic training and allows buffer time for altitude acclimatization and pre-race tuning.

Considering the marathon at this Asian Games will get underway on September 26, counting back from that date, the national team's training camp will most likely start in late June or early July, the rather demanding Lanzhou selection race took a lot out of the athletes, so the coming month is a good window to fully recover and restore fitness.

Domestically, Yuxi, Chenggong, and Haigeng in Yunnan, and Duoba in Qinghai are well-known high-altitude training bases.

In the preparation cycles for several recent major competitions, Yuxi has long been the national marathon team's traditional "base camp", the Yuxi Plateau Sports Center's uniquely advantageous geography and first-rate training and support facilities have made the national team's stationing at the Yuxi highland training base routine. Ahead of the Hangzhou Asian Games, He Jie, Yang Shaohui and others completed their final preparatory push in Yuxi and ultimately reached the top of Asia.

However, this time is somewhat different: previous training squads included many athletes who spent long periods training in Yunnan, and one major advantage of choosing Yunnan for training was the athletes' familiarity with the environment. This time, the squad — drawn from all over the country — with the exception of Jia Erenjia, who is based in Yunnan year-round, has athletes who normally train in various locations, making it possible to break out of "South of the Colorful Clouds".

Compared with several Yunnan training bases located on the sub-plateau, Qinghai Doba, at nearly 2,400 meters, can provide geographic conditions closer to "high-altitude training", offering greater stimulus to cardiovascular and athletic capacity, Wu Bing said in an interview after the Lanzhou Marathon that preparing in the higher-altitude Doba before the race gave her significant help and confidence.

Athletes who are used to training on the sub-alpine plateau will face the difficulties and opportunities of "challenging new heights" in Duoba. At the same time, for Tibetans Ciren Cuomu and Zhaxi Ciren, the drop in altitude when training in Duoba is smaller than in Yunnan, making it closer to their daily training environment.

Thus, Duoba in Qinghai, a compromise between Tibet and Yunnan, has its own advantages. Its "disadvantage" is that—Duoba was a popular choice for marathon training bases in the first 20 years of the 21st century, but in the past six years it has "cooled off." It remains to be seen whether this time it will welcome a marathon training squad.

In addition, this yearGuizhou has stood out in marathon events, and Qingzhen in Guizhou might also become one of the options. The training atmosphere there comes with a bit of "good luck and blessings," which is a pleasant bonus.

Yunnan, Qinghai, or Guizhou — who will be the final choice? With less than four months until the Asian Games, the specific training arrangements are expected to be officially announced next month. Where do you think the training camp will take place? Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments.

Text: HP / Editor:HP

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