Dubai Discovers Endurance Sports

In some ways, I guess it’s a victim of its own success, but it seems that Dubai appears in the media so often that it’s easy to forget that it’s just not that big. The entire emirate of Dubai has a population of about two million (75% of which lives in the city of Dubai). So, that makes it about 20% of the size of London, less than half the size of Madrid, smaller than Hamburg, Budapest or Warsaw...in fact, about the same size as Milan, the West Midlands, or Greater Liverpool areas.

It’s pretty new too, as far as cities go. Things that are older than Dubai (and by this I mean Dubai the city, not Dubai the fishing settlement): the internet, the song Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice, the band Blur, Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe...

So, since the early 90s, the city has expanded and expanded, swept along on a tide of oil and real estate money; until, suddenly, it stopped in October 2008. Now, when I speak to folks back in the UK, they’re almost surprised I’m still here – I think the image portrayed by the European media is of a giant futuristic landscape slowly crumbling back into the Arabian Gulf, crippled by poverty.

But that’s not it. What’s actually happening is what I like to call a spot of colouring in. During those boom years, all those huge developments and housing estates and economic cities and holiday resorts were thrown up...and they give the city an outline, a template, but not a soul. A soul takes time, but so strong is the human spirit and its love for art, culture, music, sport, society, fun and learning that it seeps into every little space it finds, if you give it time. And the time seems right in Dubai.

Multisports, triathlon in particular, and endurance racing on the whole have boomed in recent years and it seems like that boom has finally boomed its boom here in the booming (but not in the way in once boomed) UAE. Like I said, it’s finding its soul and its identity which, in a city, reflects the souls and identities of its inhabitant.

In spite of having grown up in the outdoor activity hotspot of North Wales and having lived in cycling mad Spain for almost 10 years, I actually didn’t take up triathlon – or endurance racing – until I got to Dubai. I’m not used to countries where, each weekend, there are ten local groups heading out on rides, 15 different triathlons across all different distances and, for good measure, a new sportive of half marathon is announced every week. Like I said, Dubai is actually quite a small city, and there have only been relatively few events until recently.

Then, suddenly, BOOM! Where once there was just the Golden Tulip sprint triathlons with the occasional one-off other race, now we have three or four small series of races, with a couple of big international ones thrown in for good measure. Between now and the end of the year, for example, I’ll be racing two sprint series (GT and Wadi Adventure) an Olympic distance tri, an Olympic distance aquathlon, a time trial, a half marathon and a 92km road cycling race. In the New Year, add the Yas tris to that mix, the Dubai Marathon, RAK Half, Wadi Bih adventure tri... and that’s not to mention the events I can’t do because they’re on the same days as the others!

And that, I guess, is one of the downsides; with much more variety comes choice. In the past couple of years, I entered everything going because there weren’t so many races anyway; and you’d see the same faces, which led to a nice sense of community. I guess as even more races are added, that’ll be diluted. But that’s still a good thing. Different races, different course, different faces, different place to come fourth...boom boom!  

Stop! Taper time.

It's been a few days since I've posted on this here blog and for that I apologise, folks. Contrary to popular belief, I didn't spend the weekend hospitalised after a violent altercation with a group of road bikers (see last blog); actually, I was down south for a wedding and had a most lovely weekend.

After a good brick session on Friday (110km ride into 6.5km run), I hopped on the train down to London where I spent a great night drinking wine, a little too much brandy and catching up with Marcus and Bianca – old friends from my days living in Spain and two of my all-time fave people.

The following morning, a couple of other friends – Hannah and Jenny – picked me up and we headed down to the New Forest for the wedding of my boss and her bloke...or Claire and Dave as they're also known. The wedding wasn't till Sunday so Saturday avo saw loads of us head off on hired bikes for a ride through the New Forest, taking in a picnic stop, a game of rounders and a pint en route. Although far from a training session, I did count this as active recovery – 25kms counts for something, right? The ride also served to convince anyone who didn't already think I'm insane for doing triathlon/Ironman that I am indeed a bit nuts – needless to say, after years without riding a bike, there were lots of sore legs and bums by the end of the afternoon.

There was a lovely meal and some excellent drinking done that evening and then, bright and early the next morning, I headed out for a long run. And what a joyful experience that was. I started out following the route we'd cycled the previous day, but then got a bit lost...and didn't care a jot. I ran through woods, fields, along paths and off-road. When one path ended, I decided there and then which way to continue. I hopscotched puddles like small lakes, raced dogs out being walked, ran after the wild ponies that live throughout the New Forest...I passed people having picnics, folks playing rounders and frisbee, horseriders, bikers, lumberjacks, horse-drawn carriages, mushroom pickers...it was amazingly good fun. So much so, that by the time I got back to my digs in Brockenhurst (thanks in part to my awesome Garmin 310xt GPS watch – it doesn't have full maps but can show you the direction and distance to where you started – and worked fine even when I was under a thick canopy of trees), I'd run 21k and averaged around 5:30/km pace, which isn't bad at all when most of the run wasn't on roads and involved gates, styles, marshes and puddles. I also felt fresh as a daisy coming back and could have run the whole thing again without much bother at all – in fact, I'd have loved to!

It's something I'm going to try to incorporate into my training when I get back to Dubai too. Obviously, beautiful green forests are in short supply over there but I think it's important to maintain the fun of running/working out. Rather than commit to a route or distance, I'll try to just head out and run without such tight plans - I'm also going to try some mountain/wadi runs and will continue to hit the beach for some great barefoot sessions kicking up water as I run along the sand. 

So, the next couple of days: beautiful wedding, overindulging (on meat and Guinness), long day of trains and coffee shops, finally home.

Today, I did a two hour ride on pretty easy terrain and a shorter but faster swim session than usual this evening – and with that, the two week taper into Ironman Wales has officially begun. I know that I'm going to start second-guessing my readiness and be tempted to fit in some harder sessions here and there but I also know that's pointless – it's all about reducing the volume, upping the intensity and getting plenty of rest.

I reckon that could all be easier said than done. But, for now, I'm embracing the taper.

12 days and counting...