A blog post that saves lives and money

There are a lot of things to consider when you move countries and continents. And you can get so caught up with unimportant stuff, like packing, closing and opening bank accounts, new apartment to live in yadda, yadda, yadda, that it becomes easy to overlook the truly important training-related to-dos.

Last week, almost three months since I made the move to Amsterdam, I finally got around to what should be - no, seriously, it should - one of the first things an athlete needs to do when they make such a move: order my new Road ID.

If you don't know what a Road ID is, it's this:

Essentially, a velcro bracelet that you wear for all your activities, containing vital information and contact numbers.  On mine, for example, it says my name, the year I was born, my girlfriend and parents' contact numbers (obviously, they're not blurred out on the real thing!), that I have no known allergies, asthma and have AB+ blood type, and there's even room for a little motivational message to read when you look down during a hard session. Many people have "don't quit" or "pain doesn't exist" type slogans but I prefer the last line of The Streets' great tune, Turn The Page, which is my pre-race anthem.

As many of my triathlon buddies back in Dubai have witnessed of late, in the terrible case of an accident while out biking or running, you could be left unconscious and this type of information - who you are, blood type, allergies etc - could well be critical. As could the support of your loved ones. It's almost irresponsible to train without one of these bad boys on your wrist.

They're only pretty cheap - less than US$20 - plus, if you use the code ThanksMatt22236291 you'll get a dollar off. Can't say fairer than that. This isn't a sales pitch, I'm not sponsored by Road ID, or anything like that... I just think that, as cyclists, runners or triathletes, we sometimes take safety for granted. This is just one of a couple of very simple and cheap steps we can take to limit the risks of racing and training, as going out in a group or run buddy isn't always possible.

The clothes make the man – in triathlon at least

There are loads of sayings and little snippets of advice that involve the threads we wear. “The clothes make the man,” “Dress to impress,” “Wolf in sheep’s clothing,” “The emperor’s new clothes,” “Dressed to kill,” and “Dress for the job you want, not the one you’ve got”…

I’ve always had a bit of a basic, whatever-fits approach to training and working out attire but, over the past couple of years, that has changed significantly.

It was 18 months or so ago, at a big race, that I was chatting to a really top age grouper (sub-9 hour IM guy, it turned out). We were both smugly ridiculing the hundreds of all-the-gear-and-no-idea racers who, by the looks of them, had spent more time shopping at the expo than doing any training; the result being that they all now looked the same – same warm-up pants, same ‘cool’ jacket, same branded visor…

I mentioned to the guy I was chatting to (Norweigan fella, if that helps you paint the picture more clearly) that I just tended to grab any old crap in sports shop sales and mix and match for training. “No, no, no, Matt – that won’t do at all!” he said to me completely seriously, before dishing out the triathlon sartorial advice that I now follow without question (with one exception but that’s coming up…).

His advice was that you should have one or two sets of good quality swim gear, bike wear, and run kit. You don’t need all the fancy track suits, triathlon t-shirts, race visors… you don’t need a wardrobe that looks like a rainbow threw up I it, stuffed with 20 different TdF team bike kits. But one or two good, good quality changes for each sport.

This wasn’t to look good. This wasn’t about saving money (although, ultimately, once I started buying one good pair of bike bib shorts rather than 5 sets of cheap, rubbish shorts, I did save money in the long-term). The reasoning went a little something like this:

·         If you dress like a cyclist, you’ll be treated like a cyclist

·         If you’re treated like a cyclist, you’ll feel like a cyclist

·         If you feel like a cyclist, you’ll train and ride like a cyclist

·         If you train and ride like a cyclist, you’ll become a better triathlete

(Obviously, the same applies to swimming and running too.)

I also find that this process has helped me mentally. When I head to a run workout now, I dress and feel like a runner and, therefore, I push myself to compete with other runners, rather than thinking “well, hey, I’m a triathlete so I don’t have to be quite as good as the rest of these guys…”

With all this in mind, here are some simple tips to get you started:

·         When you wear your goggles around your neck before or after a swim session, you might be thinking “useful and won’t lose them” but all the swimmers are thinking “tool”.

·         ­Unless you’re an Olympic hopeful in the pool or are clocking 25km or more a week in an ITU-style training schedule, the above applies to taking flippers to the pool.

·         Tri suits are for tri races – not bike rides.

·         Tri suits are for tri races – not running races.

But there’s more to this than not looking like an idiot and improving your training. You see, the proper sport-specific kit is almost always the best and most comfortable thing to wear.

As I said earlier, I’ve been sticking rigidly to this ‘dress for the occasion’ principle now for a good 18 months. Except once: my first bike ride after moving to Amsterdam.

I knew it was cold, a little wet – certainly different conditions to those I was used to experiencing in Dubai. But I didn’t need any of those fancy, expensive winter biking clothes, I decided – with all their waterproof this and windproof that. I layered up with what I had, put on a pair of woolly mittens and headed out for what proved to be 90 of the most unpleasant and painful minutes that I can remember. By the time it started raining – and we were a bit lost and 45 minutes at least from home – I’d decided that crawling under a tree to have a little cry would be the best course of action; however, my hands were too cold to actually press on the brakes to stop, so I just had to keep pedalling.

Before: a bit cold

The next time I went out, my road bike was sporting mud guards and I was kitted out in shoe covers, fleece-lined long bike knicks, a proper windproof jacket (with waterproof in the back pocket) and windproof and waterproof lobster claw cycling gloves. The 2 hour ride was a cosy delight.

After: wrapped up, toasty and ready to ride.

Lesson learned - being unsuitably attired is not a mistake I will be making again. It’s not vanity, it’s not showing-off – it’s just the best way to make sure you don’t end your ride weeping under a big tree…

Wacky races - 2013 race schedule

One of the biggest advantages of having moved back to Europe - other than hot chocolate on a cold day, and, y'know, actual culture and trees and stuff - is that there are so many events to choose from. With that in mind, over these winter months when snowfall, sub-zero temperatures and 4pm sunsets have made summer triathlons feel a long way away, I've diligently gone about building my race schedule for the year ahead. 

I've mentioned on numerous occasions that Dubai was a wonderful place to discover triathlon but, due to the 12 months a year schedule if you're doing a big summer race, it also had its drawbacks.

With those drawbacks in mind, this year's race schedule (my first ever European summer schedule) looks a lot like this:

10 Feb - Schoorl Half Marathon

10 March - The Hague Half Marathon

14 April - Rotterdam Marathon

11 May - Rat Race Dirty Weekend

16 June - Berlin Ironman 70.3

14 September - Challenge Almere-Amsterdam (half iron distance)

As well as these, there are a couple of bike sportives I'll tackle in spring, there's a canal swim race in Amsterdam at the end of summer, and there are a few local sprint tris I'll do either individually or for my Tri Club (draft-legal... should be fun!) but, essentially, they'll all be parts of the build for the bigger events.

It's a schedule I'm excited about for a variety of reasons. Firstly, in spite of having done a couple of full Ironmans, I've never done a half IM so looking forward to trying a couple of those. Secondly, as I wrote in my 10 triathlon resolutions for 2013, I wanted to try something different and exciting this year and the Rat Race Dirty Weekend (the world's biggest ever obstacle course - 200 obstacles over 20 miles!) is certainly that.

Significantly, it's the sort of season I didn't manage in Dubai where I feel I just trained continually and maybe looked to peak once during the summer for an Ironman. This summer, I'll look to peak for the Rotterdam Marathon, Berlin 70.3 and the Half Challenge Almere-Amsterdam - my A races that are all nicely spaced out. Thanks to this, as well as the weather, it also means that during the early season I can focus on my run (my weakest discipline) like I never have before, while swimming and cycling take a back seat for a while before being picked up in the spring.

Finally, I feel like it's a schedule that's going to help me see some significant improvements as I build up for another Ironman in 2014 and look to shatter my 10.59 in Austria. I might be wrong - it could turn out that I'm just the kind of athlete who benefits from 3 swims, 3 bikes, 3 runs a week all year round, but I don't feel like that's going to be the case. Best of all, it's a schedule that has me super motivated and just champing at the bit to get out there and start racing again. It's been a while...

Going long for the fatties…

As regular readers will know, this blog is where I harp on and on about me, myself and I – my own impressions, experiences and general barely-thought-out waffle – but today I want to draw attention to somebody else entirely.

This morning, over in Dubai, my friend Ed Hawkins started a self-supported ultraman which will see him cover 10kms of swimming, 448kms of cycling, and 84kms of running over the next three days.

His schedule looks like this:

Day 1 - 10km swim and a 174km bike ride
Day 2 - 274km bike ride
Day 3 - A double marathon, an 84km run

This isn’t an official race (tho Ed will time the run to coincide with the Dubai Marathon on Friday) – Ed is alone in doing this. So why is he doing it? To raise awareness for weight-related health problems and diabetes – major issues everywhere but particularly in the fast-food, no-exercise, drive-everywhere culture of the Middle East.

I guess this particularly strikes a chord with me as Ed’s story is similar to my own: both sporty kids who, for one reason or another, got pretty big and unhealthy in our 20s and, mainly through discovering endurance sports, managed to turn that around. In Ed’s case, he turned it around in spectacular fashion, becoming a fantastic triathlete (and Kona qualifier!) in the process.

So, today, rather than waxing lyrical about ’10 things that annoy me about wetsuits’ or ‘why I hate treadmills’, I’m just going to be following Facebook updates to see how Ed (and his superb team of supporters and cheerleaders led by his wife Sarah) is getting on and doing some online pompoming.

Follow Ed on twitter: @ehawkins
Check out his blog: edhawkins.blogspot.com
Follow his ultraman progress: facebook.com/ChallengeUltramanDubaiDiabetesAwareness

Finally, if you’ve accidentally stumbled upon this and are thinking that your life is maybe heading in an unhealthy direction, I’ll give you the advice that finally brought it home to me: it’s only going to get harder to put right tomorrow. If you want to be fit, active and healthy at 60, you need to do the right things at 30, otherwise you’re going to be sat wheezing in your chair, wishing you’d made changes while you had the chance.

And, of course, you don’t have to become a triathlete or an Ironman – it may sound overly simple, but turning my life and health around was as simple as committing to doing 45 minutes of sport or exercise three times a week (no excuses) and deciding what my single biggest bad eating habit was (pasta, double helpings, three times a week) and changing it. Those changes created a snowball that is still rolling and (I hope) getting faster.

What's your biggest challenge?

One of the things I like best about triathlon and endurance sport is that there is always some sort of challenge that needs to be faced and solved... or endured, at least. The physical challenges are, of course, the most obvious examples; however, often more difficult are the mental challenges that swimming, biking and running can throw up. Then, maybe toughest of all, are the logistical challenges.

You have an early meeting but need to fit in an hour on the bike…

You need to pack swim kit, work clothes, running gear and a change of clothes to meet some friends for a drink and need to get it all into one bag…

You have a brick session – an early long ride (likely to be cold) followed by a medium distance run (likely to be hot by then); how many changes of kit, water bottles, sports drinks, energy gels and bananas do you need to get you through and where will you keep them..?

To me, triathlon often seems like less of an endurance sport and more of a complex puzzle.

While living in Dubai, the toughest equation to solve often involved the year’s biggest races being in or around summer when temperatures in the UAE were tipping over from ‘Megan Fox’ to ‘Jessica Alba’ on the hotness scale (which is way more fun than a thermometer). Therefore, the solution to the training quandary often involved very early mornings, pre-frozen water bottles and cooler boxes left in the car.

Ahhhh... let's just take a minute here... OK, carry on reading.

Recently, I’ve been faced with a completely different problem:

The cold is an issue, of course – especially where cycling is concerned – but the bigger problem is that it has snowed two or three times in the past week or so, without once getting out of minus temperatures, so you can imagine how precarious the roads, bike paths and pavements are at the moment.

This doesn’t matter too much for cycling – it’s still very early in the season and a few half hours here and there on the home trainer will do the trick for now – however, having begun my training for the Rotterdam Marathon, it most definitely does affect my running.

And, so, I’ve had to hit the gym – an obvious solution, maybe, but I have always had a hate-hate-hate relationship with the treadmill. After 10 minutes, I’m bored senseless. But the training schedule says what it says and won’t wait for the roads to dry and temperatures to rise and so, yesterday, I headed for the gym ably supported by my MP3 player and an iPad with a couple of shows on it and, for the first time, I blasted out a steady half marathon (21.1kms) on the treadmill.

And this is where the logistical, the physical and the mental all collide – OK, it was just a mid-paced training run but I managed to knock out almost two hours on the treadmill – my sworn enemy! – and the motivation and positive energy I got from achieving that were enormous. Life threw me a curve ball, and I adapted and just got her done – winning the logistical, physical and mental battles all at once. And that, as much as anything, is what triathlon training is all about. While everyone else says "I think I'll skip my run/gym visit today", we just have to man (or woman) up and get 'er done. 

And, to my mind at least, this is a pretty good lesson to apply to life on the whole.

So far so good...

Well then, it’s been just over a month since I made the big move, said Du-bye to Dubai and Hola to Holland, and so far so good. I have to admit that I miss my friends and training groups back in Dubai, of course, but I’m absolutely convinced that it was the right move at the right time. I like that I left Dubai on a high (no Dutch jokes here) and while things were still good – my memories of the UAE now will always be positive, and I’ll definitely be trying to get back for occasional visits.

And what of Amsterdam? Well, the obvious thing first – it’s bloody cold, but, other than on a couple of occasions (more of those later), that’s not bothered me so much. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent most of the past decade living in Spain and the UAE, but I’m kind of enjoying the novelty of an actual, real winter. Coats, gloves, cappuccinos, hot chocolates and oliebollen… winter has its advantages. And for every mind-blowingly crappy day, there are days – like today – when the sky is blue, the cold is crisp and the leaves are on the ground… it really is beautiful.

Amsterdam

I really feel like I’m finding my way in the city/country now. I have my bank account and citizen’s number, so I’m official. I really like our apartment and the area it’s in too. The first few weeks maybe felt like a bit of a extended holiday but now it’s real life doing real things (with the exception of the working from home everyday part).

And, while Dubai had its advantages, I’m really lapping up all of the proper ‘European’ things on offer in the Netherlands. The parks and canals, stopping in cafes for beers and bitterballen (the Dutch, it seems, have a strange but tasty obsession with food in ball shapes!), heading to small art house cinemas (Pretentious? Moi?) and just wandering or cycling around the streets to discover new places and see new things.

We’ve visited Glow in Eindhoven – a cool, week-long art experiment when the buildings become light shows. We have tickets to a couple of festivals and music events next summer. There are weekend breaks planned. Gigs to be watched. And I haven’t even gotten around to seeing the museums, markets, the Heineken Experience or the pancake boat yet! But all in good time…

Images from GLOW in Eindhoven

But this isn’t some fancy-Dan (or fancy-Dam…groan!) travel blog or expat relocation guide, is it? It is, or at least it tries to be, about triathlon. So, how’s that going?

Well, we live in a great place as far as training goes. Firstly, we’re between a few parks, all of which have run tracks around or through them. I can do a lap or two for short runs while they can be combined (usually by following a canal or two) to create longer runs. There’s even an official 22km trail through three of the parks, while the nearby Amsterdam Woods (I’ve not been there yet) has 12, 15 and 21km trails through it. I’ve also tried a city run and a run down the Amstel river – after the same one or two loops of Dubai, this feels like an embarrassment of riches. Especially when the backdrop is misty parks, canals with ducks, geese and herons perched nearby, and woodlands with a thick carpet of autumn leaves underfoot.

The Vondelpark has a nice 3.5km run loop

Came across these dudes while running along the nearby Nieuwe Meer (the lake is pictured below) 

The local 22km loop - we basically live right in the centre of this

Running has been the main focus just to keep a little fit for the time being. I’ve ridden twice – once a couple of weekends back while visiting my fried Joe in Spain, we headed out and did a nice 90km jaunt through the hills of Andalucia, stopping only to experience the ‘traditional delicacies’ of the world’s worst tapas restaurant. And then, last week, I tried a ride here with Hamish, who also recently moved to Amsterdam.

At this point, I should explain that I only began the whole riding/triathlon thing in Dubai so cold conditions have never really featured too heavily. Expecting it to be cold out, I dressed in my warmest cycling gear – the sort of thing I’d wear for a cold winter morning in Dubai. Turns out that there’s quite a difference between a cold Dubai winter morning and a cold Amsterdam winter afternoon… we only made 45km in the end as the heavens opened and sent a downpour; I, of course, had absolutely no waterproof clothing on.  To cut a long story short, I had to get a neighbour to let me into the apartment as I couldn’t use the keys, so cold were my hands, and it took me 25 minutes of being inside before they thawed enough to take my gloves or shoes off.

Anyway, never one to need telling twice, I remedied that situation by immediately going online and buying proper winter cycling gear. Of course, I haven’t ridden since!

My favourite place for training is called Sloterpark. It has a +6km mainly woodland run track around a giant lake. Being around 1.5km from the apartment, this makes a perfect 10km run. Better still, on the far side of the lake – around 10 mins bike away – is a giant sports centre with a 50m swim pool. This is home to the De Dolfijn Masters and Tri Clubs. It’s also where my awesome gym is located. Just over the road is the running track where the tri club holds weekly track workouts. During the summer, you can do open water swims in the lake. Oh, and there’s a pretty good annual triathlon in this area too. I love having all of this so close to hand.

Running in the Sloterpark

Canalside path leading from home to Sloterpark 

The lake at Sloterpark

Triathlon is a pretty expensive sport, but it’s much more accessible here in Europe. De Dolfijn Tri, for example, costs €365 a year, which can be paid in monthly instalments (and includes an annual race licence).  This basically means that €7 per week gives me 5 coached swim sessions, a coached track run per week, a couple of bike rides per week between April and September, plus all the other social and support benefits of being in a club.

There’s another bike and tri group called Cylodam – which is maybe a bit less formal but bit more social – and their fees are just €25 per year, so I’m joining both; I love the social element of training and triathlon, while also needing as much variety as possible in my training, so the more options for rides or runs I have the better, is how I see it.  

So, basically, I’m back in training now. Not tri training per se (or at least, not in the way I've done it in Dubai), but training to maximise the potential for 2013 being my best season yet. What does that mean exactly? Well, I’ll get into that next time.

Bye, bye, I’ll Miss Emirati Tri

(see what I did with that title, eh?)

OK, OK, OK… so it’s been a while. And for that I offer up my deepest, sincerest condolences, yadda yadda yadda… Actually, what do you want from me? I’ve been damn busy. ‘How busy?’ you may ask. Lots of work on? Too much training? Few personal commitments?

Actually, I’ve been rounding up my life in the UAE (easier said than done), saying my goodbyes and have been a tad preoccupied with moving to the Netherlands, I’ll have you know. But now I’m there, and have been living in Amsterdam for one week exactly, I’m writing the blog I should have written a couple of weeks ago.

First up, let me say that the time was right and, even before I got here, I’ve been super-psyched about my move. Now I’m here, despite having to increase the overall size of my wardrobe by several thousand percent (coats, scarves and gloves are essentials for life in this here Netherlands, people!), I’m even more excited. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not some sadness attached to leaving Dubai.

There’s sadness attached to the place – I was lucky enough to leave while I still feel a lot of fondness towards Dubai and the UAE, rather than so many who are ‘just reeeeally over the whole thing, you know, man?’  when they make the move away. There’s sadness attached to the job – I think I had one of the best jobs in the world at Explorer – and the people. But what I’m going to miss, more than anything else, can be summed up in one word: triathlon.

Let’s take a pictorial journey through my time in Dubai…

2008: 93kgs and already many, many kilos lighter than at the same point the year before, I tackle my first triathlon in gym clothes, wearing a borrowed kids’ helmet and riding a borrowed bike. Sprint triathlon time: 1hr46.

2010: 85kgs and with a marathon and several triathlons under my belt, with a proper bike helmet and on my very own tri bike, I register a time of 1.17 for a sprint tri.

2012: 79kgs (going into the race…70kgs finishing it!) I complete my second Ironman. I now have many, many swim, bike, run and tri races under my belt and can cover the sprint distance in around 1.03.

What many will see there is either a dude who got himself into some sort of decent shape or a blogger who’s feeling a mite proud of himself. I’d disagree. When I look at those photos now I think of experiences (climbing Kilimanjaro, racing Ironmans, cycling tours across Thailand and Laos or Europe), I think of achievements, I think of a guy who’s happier in life and better at his job, and  I think of someone who wouldn’t have had the balls or ability to make the move I’ve just made before my tri adventure began. But, most of all, I think of all the friends I’ve made along the way.

The Middle East and endurance sport may not seem to be a match made in heaven but for me it most definitely was. So, when I look back on my time in Dubai, what I’ll always remember and be grateful for is that it gave me one of the things I love most and makes me happiest in the world.

And it taught me one thing. Wherever you are in the world, never let location be your limiter or your barrier. Get out there and make it count! While everyone else in Amsterdam is bemoaning the cold snap and the rain, I’m wrapped up and ready for action – after jogging around and around and around at Safa or Dubai Marina in 45 degree C, hitting the canal-side trails, parks and woods of Holland in the cold is a breeze.

As rubbish and silly a dedication as it may be, this blog serves as a huge thanks to everyone at Tri2Aspire, Dubai Masters, Cycle Safe, Tri Dubai, ABRaS etc etc… thanks for pushing me harder, faster and further, and for teaching me that pushing harder, faster and further is the greatest feeling in the whole, wide, lovely, great world.

 

What’s in a name?

My blogging has been pretty woeful of late, but I think I have good reason for that. Y’see, this is predominantly a triathlon blog, documenting the high and lows of my racing and training, with occasional sideways glances at the sport and meandering journeys into the world of tri-surrealism.

And, of late, triathlon hasn’t really been on my mind. I’ve done a few rides and sessions here and there but consistency has been non-existent and I’ve also taken quite a few chunks of time off. Training hard has been replaced by working way too hard, then 10 days of eating and drinking way too much, while life has generally got in the way.

And then there’s the big news. As of the beginning of November, this blog, Desert Tri Tales, will be seeing something of a reboot, a rebranding, a rebirth if you will…  as it transforms into Triathlon and Tulips, or Remrandtriathlon, or Swim, Bike/Boat, Run or…well, I’ve not decided yet, but you get the point. This isn’t due to a newfound love of floristry, 17^th Century art or cruising, but, at the end of October, I’ll be swapping sand dunes and skyscrapers for canals and clogs as I move to the Netherlands.

If I’m being honest, I’ve been hankering after a move back to Europe for a while and the time was starting to feel right. Europe rather than the UK was always my preference – for whatever reason, lifestyle I guess, mainland Europe has always felt like a better long-term fit for me and I’d quietly decided to make a move back by the end of this year anyway. When a pretty young Dutch lass that I’ve been into for a decade or so suggested Amsterdam as a suitable destination, it seemed like the perfect fit.

Swapping THIS...

...for THIS.

So, there we have it folks. The times they are a-changing.

However, I do have five weeks left in Dubai and, although I’m not going to be around for any racing (and will then be moving to Amsterdam at the beginning of winter, so no more triathlon racing for a good six months or so...), I’m enjoying putting a nice big final consistent block of training in before I go. Sure, it’s not for a race or anything, but I’m just enjoying finding a bit of form, spending time swim/bike/running with friends and team mates, and getting to train outside while I still have the chance. And the Dubai weather seems to be obliging too, as summer is finally coming to a close it seems.

Swapping THESE LOCALS...

...for THESE LOCALS.

At the moment, it’s all giddy excitement about the move. But I’m sure there’s loads that I’m going to miss about Dubai too. But that’s a subject for another blog, I guess. 

Ironman Austria - Race report: Part 4 - thanks

Read Part 1 - premable

Read Part 2 - the race

Read Part 3 - post-race thoughts

Ironman may be an individual sport, but it is always a team effort – the day itself is just one of hundreds that get you to that finish line. Which means there are a lot of people to thank.

First and foremost, I have the most supportive family (especially my folks) in the world who are always my biggest fans – for that, and many, many other things, I love them all dearly. 

My friends – both the ones who have to listen to me make weekly excuses as to why I can't come out for drinks again and yet keep inviting me anyway (please do keep inviting!), and the ones who offer tonnes of encouragement and praise by phone, email, Facebook etc – aren't far behind my family in general awesomeness levels.

My finishing time in Austria would have been unimaginable eight months ago, before joining Tri2Aspire and our coach, Jason, deserves a healthy dose of praise and thanks for that. I set him a tough couple of goals - to improve me at both sprint distance and Ironman distance simultaneously - and we achieved both and then some.

Perhaps the biggest portion should be distributed evenly among all my fellow Tri2Aspire team mates – at some point, I'm certain I've swum, ridden or run with everyone in T2A, or chatted to them about triathlon, strategies and Ironman. It seems cruel to pick out anyone in particular, but I feel I have to: Both coach and Ed have accompanied me for countless metres in the pool (and a word here for Seth and Dubai Masters – we're really lucky to have such a good and committed masters swim program in Dubai, such things are rare). 

There were a couple of killer long rides that Messrs Attenhofer, Hawkins and Marshall carried my slow-ass through. Those shadowy short-course characters known only as Flanners and The Silver Fox played just as much of a role in keeping me honest over the quick stuff too, and for that I owe a debt of gratitude that I hope to repay in the next couple of months. A doff of the cap to all you gents. 

King of the Mountains I may not be, but any improvement I've made in the hills over the past few months are due mainly to the organisational skills of Senor National and the total selflessness of support drivers par excellence Sarah and Claire. Chapeau, mes amis, chapeau.

I tend to do much of my running solo but there are times I venture out with company. It feels like Miss Q and I have put the world to rights on far too many sweat-laden long runs and occasional Safa Park beastings over the past few months since I joined the team – appreciate the company and the shared pain. Also, amongst all the horror that is the Coach Dirt runs, one in particular sticks in mind, when Piers was kind enough to pace me to a new 5k PB. That felt like a real turning point for me in considering myself to at least be 'someone who runs' even if I'm still some way short of being 'a runner'. Thanks mate. Hope to keep pushing all of you guys in the way that you've all pushed me.

Finally, the guys at Sport In Life in Dubai, provided me with the Gus, the Roctane drink and the electrolyte powder that got me through a hot and tough race - if you can stomach it, I highly recommend Gu's Roctane drink as it was a pretty easy way of getting 2-300 calories into the body fast on a day when calories were hard to keep down due to the heat. They also let me test run the brand new Polar RCX5 which I'll provide a more complete review of soon, but let's just say for now that it performed splendidly on a difficult day.

Then there are the guys at Aerofit who gave someone who had no previous knowledge or understanding of training zones or fat/carb metabolism some valuable information and tools that were employed in both training and racing.

Decisions and a quick change

So, over the past couple of days, the news filtered through that I had made the GB team for the World Sprint Champs thanks to qualifying third in my age group at last weekend’s Big Cow triathlon. The only problem being that, as I thought I probably hadn’t made the team, I’d started to make alternative plans. Now, I’m not sure whether to go or not.

The issue boils down to time and money. And, with the World Champs taking place down in New Zealand, any trip is going to demand quite a bit of both. I could probably scrape together the funds and a few days but then what’s the point in travelling all that way to a stunning country like New Zealand only to do a one-hour race and then race back?

Also, due to some personal stuff, I feel like my priorities have changed a little over the past few weeks too; I love triathlon and I can’t think of anything better than pulling on the blue Union Jack-emblazoned kit of my country, but it is, at the end of the day, just triathlon. Life, family and friends come first, right?

There’s still a bit more time left to make my decision but I’m thinking it’s unlikely I’ll go now. I’ve already decided that, after Ironman, I’d like to spend a couple of years focusing on the shorter sprint and Olympic races for a variety of reasons: I think my body reacts better to intensity, it’s where my strengths lie, not having to do 7hr IM training bike rides will buy me back a bit of ‘life’ plus I think this will buy me the time to really focus on my run, which is definitely my weakest discipline right now. I feel that many people – me included – reach for their Ironman goals to soon. I’d like to go back to basics, build some strength and speed and then maybe look at stepping up to 70.3s and IM again in a few years when I’ll see some genuine improvements.

I’d already made this decision before the UK qualifier. But if I don’t go to New Zealand, it also gives me a big goal for next year when the World Champs will be held in England. Competition for places will therefore be fierce. I figure that qualifying races, like the National Champs which I raced last week, will be just as hard-fought – no faster no slower – but all of the top four are likely to take their places, with slots on Team GB not rolling down very far at all. Therefore, the way I see it, I have 12 months to improve by 4 minutes over sprint distance or 7 minutes over an Olympic distance. And while there may be a minute or two between my swim and bike, most of this will have to come from my run. So, goals set out nice and early…

In the meantime, there’s just the small matter of an Ironman in four weeks’ time! It’s funny how the minds of us endurance athletes work. After my first weekend at home – and two really good, long, hilly bike rides – I’d have said I was in cracking form and ready to roll. However, thanks to seeing friends in London, competing in the national sprint champs, travel and tiredness, I’ve barely trained for the past week and all of a sudden I feel like I’m so unprepared it’s untrue and there’s no way I’ll even finish, let alone achieve my goals.

Slightly panicked, I hoped to get back into the game last night with the 100k bike set that is on my programme – only to snap a gear cable almost immediately. Never rains but pours, hey? This small thing was almost enough to send me into a crazy tears and tantrum toys out the pram panic but I took a deep breath and decided I’d focus on what I could do.

The bike went straight to the shop to be repaired. I took stock and realised that I’m just as fit as I was last week and also feel incredibly uninjured and well-rested – something to be grateful for a month from IM. Then I headed out on a 30k run to make up for missing the long bike. This weekend, I’ll hit the long ride on my road bike which means I won’t be able to keep up with the scheduled programme, but so what – if I can ride 200kms on my roadie, without aerobars, and still hold 30kph or faster, then the IM bike should be a doddle.

I’m looking forward to a good, fairly hard and, most importantly, a consistent three weeks of training now. Then it’s taper time. Then I head off to the beautiful land of Austria. And I’ll be prepared. I’ll give it my best. And what will be will be. After all, it’s only triathlon. It’s not family, or friends, or life…

Home is where the hills are

Last weekend, I escaped the steadily rising heat of Dubai and made for the UK for a 10 day holiday that, until now, has been really most pleasant indeed, old chap. The plan was to spend a few days at home in North Wales catching up with family before heading down to London for five days of eating, drinking, sightseeing and catching up with friends. Bookending the trip were my cousin's wedding and the UK sprint tri national championships.

I arrived in Blighty on Wednesday avo, dear boy, and on Thursday I headed out for a 14k run with a chum who is also a keen runner. The plan was to follow my scheduled run – a 75 minute effort with effort increasing by 5% of max heart rate every 15 minutes. What I discovered was amazing – at some point between leaving Dubai and heading out on this run, someone must have issued me with an extra lung. In Dubai, 70% max HR generally means around 6 min/km pace; in the UK, that pace required an effort closer to 60% max. Equally, at the top end, the final hard 15 minute interval (85% max HR) meant 4 min/km, rather than around 5 min/km the same effort produces in Dubai. I SAY!

On Friday, inspired by my T2A team mates who had produced a rather spiffing 220km ride back in Dubai that morning, I decided to follow (almost) suit. I chose a long, winding and hilly ride that would give me plenty of tests in terms of terrain and, thanks to the direction I chose, would mean a bit of a head wind all the way. As agreed with coach, this was about miles in the legs and getting used to the hills, but not going all-in, so steady with some decent rests was the name of the game. 

I was excited to head out but, at the end of the drive, quickly turned around to add an extra three layers of clothing, gloves and a woolly hat under my helmet. I was tempted to pour a piping hot cuppa tea into my drinks bottle but resisted. But it was grim out – drizzling and icy cold – May in the UK!

In spite of the weather, the ride was generally good. I headed out west along the North Wales coast, through Flint, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay and as far as Corwen – flat and fairly fast, although into a wind rolling off the Irish Sea. 

Could be worse: could be swimming in it!

60Km in, I stopped for a coffee and sandwich then headed inland past Betws y Coed and through the foothills of the Snowdonia range before following the A5 through Conwy and Llangollen. 

Boredom had, perhaps, kicked in by the time I decided to start photographing my food!

There, I knew it was a hard slog home, with two big climbs (one of which was the dreaded Horseshoe Pass) between me and nice warm shower. The final climb up from Ruthin almost killed me, but I felt great to have done it and ended up with a ride that measured 185km in distance, with almost 2,000m of climbing – half of which came in the last 40kms. I took my time (6.5hrs total ride time; 7.15 total time) but it was quite the stiff test, old chap.

In the valleys, boyo.

During the ride though, I made some observations:

• Riding is way more fun when it's not done on a pancake flat loop after loop after loop after...
  
  

Coffee stop!

• Rides with coffee stops are awesome.
• I've done a bit of cycling in many countries around the world and would put the quality of the UK's roads marginally behind those of Laos but a tad better than Tanzania. They are, in short, a disgrace. Some sections were so bad that I could have done with a MTB.
• The UK's bugs have a fairly kamikaze attitude towards flying into cyclists' mouths and up their noses. You can actually see them coming but can't do anything to avoid them.
• During the day, on any main UK A road, 60% of traffic is articulated lorries and tractors.
• British drivers are not particularly tolerant of cyclists: around 2 in every 5 cars gives you a decently wide berth; around 1 in every 10 articulated lorries and tractors even notice you.
• You can chip a tooth on a Gerard's oatie cake unless you get it straight out the oven.

I managed another few hilly runs and trails runs (even got a swim session in) during the rest of the long weekend at home and on Monday headed out again on a long ride. This time, I decided, I'd substitute the big climbs for the sort of rolling terrain I expect to find at Ironman Austria and so headed through the Welsh towns of Conwy and Llangollen and out into Oswestry, Ellesmere, Whitchurch and Chester, before heading home. A 157km ride that took a dab over 5 hours of riding.

Meadows of Cheshire.

Were the roads of Shropshire and Cheshire any better than those of North Wales? Incredibly, if anything, they were worse. But the sun was shining and that changed everything. The terrain – hills, valleys, meadows, canals, lakes, railways... - was utterly breathtaking. The UK, at its best, I was reminded, is as beautiful as anywhere else I've ever been. But with shit roads.

Gorgeous lake in Ellesmere.

My final ride of the week was just a cheeky little two hour outing through country lanes and popping over a local set of foothills a few times for a 50km ride with around 1,200m of elevation. As I reached the peak of one mini summit, just about Hollywell, the view across the Dee Estuary to The Wirral pretty much took my breath away. If only the sun always shone in these parts! 

Climbing is something I really struggle with but these three rides have made me feel much stronger and demonstrated to me that, while I'm a long way short of where I need to be, there is hope... I just need to keep putting the hard work in.

So, for now, the riding is over as I'm heading down to London for a few days where, as well as the rest of the shenanigans mentioned above, I'm looking forward to taking advantage of this weather to get in a couple of long runs through the big parks and along the Thames, before taking my foot off the gas a little on Friday and Saturday before the race on Sunday.

I've no idea how I'll do in that race – the competition looks stiff and I'm not in 'sprint' shape really, being just 5 or 6 weeks short of Ironman Austria, but I'm looking forward to getting out there, giving it some and seeing where that puts me. It'll be nice to see how I compare to other athletes outside my normal Dubai circle.

Fitness testing - the full story

Believe it or not (and I realise that most people won’t), there’s actually a fair amount of work involved with this here blog. I know that it seems like I just scrawl out whatever random musings materialise in my noggin, but I do actually but some thought and time into it... and that’s the excuse I’m using for the couple of weeks that have come between my first two Aerofit scan postings and this here one.

On a serious note, it’s an interesting and worthwhile subject, and I didn’t want to do a rush job. The past couple of weeks I’ve been busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking competition and just couldn’t find the time, but the best things in life are worth waiting for, right?

So, here we go with analysis of my cycling and running. As it’s been such a long time between these posts, I decided to paste posts 1 and 2 to the beginning to create one long but, hopefully, continuous and intelligible post. If you have an elephantine memory, just skip down to the bottom to the part where you see a load of scientific looking graphs and read from around there.

For the rest....

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Anyone who takes a look at that little bar above (the one that says ‘Follow My Training’) will have noticed quite a difference in the way I train of late. Of course, it still boils down to swim/bike/run/core/stretch, but the way sessions are approached has changed.

Previously, for example, you’d have seen things like ‘24k long run’ or ‘60k bike into 40minute harder run’. But these have now become ‘25k in upper Tz1 [Training Zone 1]’ and ‘60k Tz1-Tz2 into 40 minute run in Tz2’.

So, where did all this extra information on training zones come from? My Aerofit scan.

Triathletes, as I’ve said before, love a bit of geekery – in the form of carbon goodies, shiny new gadgets and analysing data. And there’s lots of data that can be analysed: VO2 max, lactate threshold, average watts etc...

One recent innovation to find its way to the Middle East is Aerofit (it was originally pioneered in Germany but is now available in loads of countries around the world). But, as Sreeya from Aerofit explains, they see their scan as more of a training tool than purely a fitness test used to produce data.

“We see it as the leading fitness coaching service in the Middle East, which guarantees you effective weight loss and improvement in your sports performance. We can provide individualised ‘fact-based’ training plans based on a scientific analysis [called the Aeroscan] of your individual metabolism.”

Fair enough. So, how does it do that?

“AeroFit determines your VO2, anaerobe threshold, fat and carbohydrate metabolism and optimum training zones,” answers Sreeya.

Unless you’re already pretty health savvy and into the science of fitness, much of this will be as intelligible as a sea lion singing karaoke – what we actually want to know about any of these tests or scans, if we’re being honest, is one thing: will it make me faster?

“You will significantly improve your stamina, speed and endurance by training your body to produce energy efficiently. You will get much faster on the run and bike, be able to estimate your racing times, strategise the right pace for your next race and plan your nutrition intake to fuel your body sufficiently,” says Sreeya.

That’ll be a ‘yes’ then.

“You will see your race times improving and visibly see progress in just a few weeks of training.”

From my basic understanding of the science behind the Aerofit scan, all athletes can choose to train at a wide range of intensities – you can walk, you can sprint, or you can do anything in between. Whether you’re a Kona qualifier, a mid-pack triathlete, or just someone who wants to lose a bit of weight and get a little fitter, the major limiter is almost always time. The data provided by the Aeroscan tells you what intensities you should work at to maximise gains in the time that you have available.

So, what does doing the Aerofit scan involve?

Well, it’s pretty simple really – and no more taxing than the average gym session. A couple of days before, I fill in an information sheet which lists things like my age, weight, how much I exercise and my fitness goals. This sheet also includes a set of fairly straightforward instructions, telling me to keep vigorous workouts to a minimum in the 48 hours preceding my Aerofit scan, and not to eat for a few hours before.

I arrive at the gym at The Address Dubai Mall – one of Aerofit’shomes, along with the Up & Running clinic on Al Wasl Road – and go into the plush changing rooms to don my shorts, t-shirt and trainers.

The only other apparatus involved are a standard stationary bike, a treadmill and the Aerofit mouthpiece – essentially a tube that you place into your mouth and leading to a chord, with a nose pinch that not only keeps the mouthpiece steady but also guarantees that all inhalation and exhalation goes through the mouth. The mouthpiece feeds information into a laptop that records the results.

Before doing anything, I sit down – at rest – and breathe through the mouthpiece for 30 seconds. Then we begin on the bike. I cycle at a steady cadence on an easy resistance for a few minutes and then Sreeya hands me the mouthpiece – I continue cycling just the same put while breathing into the mouthpiece for 30 seconds. 

Sreeya then whips off the mouthpiece and increases the resistance; again, I cycle steadily for a few minutes before I continue but breathing through the mouthpiece for 30 seconds. 

This pattern continues – incremental increase in resistance, a few minutes of normal riding, 30 seconds into the mouthpiece... and then Sreeya tells me to stop, taking down the resistance for me to cool down gradually. It’s pretty painless, took less than 15 minutes and, in terms of perceived effort, I’d say that even at the top resistance I’m still only on 5 out of 10.

There’s a few minutes’ break as Sreeya and fellow expert Markus take a look at the results, walking me through a few of the most obvious points and patterns.

I then jump up on to the treadmill and repeat the process, starting at an easy 8kph (the pace you start at depends on your ability), running for a couple of minutes normally, running for 30 seconds with the mouthpiece on, then upping the pace by 2kph and repeating the process. 

The only difference is that, due to the results I was registering, I stayed on the treadmill longer than I did on the bike and was at a fair old pace (for me, at least) by the end of the scan – just over 17 minutes later. The whole process took around an hour for both bike and run.

Again, I cooled down and watched as Sreeya and Markus looked at, translated and explained my results.

So, here’s the bike results:

And here’s the run:

But what do they mean? Well, let’s go back to the bike.

You can extrapolate all manner of conclusions from this; everything from my base metabolism to how many calories I’ll burn/require during an Ironman bike leg, given my effort of level (as reflected by my heart rate). If you know what you’re looking for, there’s as many answers here as there are questions. But, in a nutshell, these are the vital stats:

Again, you can interpret all this is any number of ways but my primary aim was to discover my training zones and which ones I need to work on most. Information like this:

Sreeya and Markus explain the results:

“Every human body has approximately 1,700-2,000 Kcals of carbohydrate storage whereas a substantially higher amount of fat storage of approximately 80,000 Kcals. Hence, in order to improve your fitness and sports performance or lose fat, it is important to train your body to burn more fat calories, which can happen by training in your correct heart rate zones.

“For endurance athletes, as long as you keep burning fat, you are using an almost unlimited storage of energy and you will be able to perform at these levels for very long periods of time. It is only when a very high amount of your calorie consumption comes from carbohydrates, in your case at HR 128 or 210 watts, your endurance for long distance events will go down significantly.

“Overall, you have a low fat metabolism. Your highest fat burn rate of 63% is achieved at HR 88 and 60 watts followed by a very sharp decline thereafter. Your anaerobe zone is reached at HR 137. Majority of your biking should occur in the aerobe zones, TZ1 and TZ2. Your training should primarily focus on building fat metabolism. Do long bike rides in TZ1 up to HR 110. This will increase your overall endurance for long distance races as you are training your body to burn more fat calories of which you have an almost unlimited amount of storage. In addition, do some bike rides in TZ2 especially during racing season. This will improve your stamina and speed performance and push out your anaerobe threshold further to the right. However, it is important to first focus on building fat metabolism in the low-medium HR to improve overall biking profile.”

Some people show vastly different results in bike and run. They may, for example, be an extremely efficient runner who burns predominantly fat until a very high speed however, when they jump on the bike, they have to work far harder and therefore burn predominantly carbohydrates unless they keep their heart rates very low.

That isn’t the case for me, however; my bike and run show very, very similar results and Sreeya and Markus were able to make almost the same conclusion.

To conclude, it’s clear that I’m a pretty fit person who is well-trained. It’s also clear that I’m predominantly a shorter distance, power athlete, rather than a natural endurance athlete. This is backed up by the fact that, even when a lot younger and when I was a competitive swimmer, I always specialised in the sprint events like 50m-100m fly and backstroke. I made regional school track finals in sprints and hurdle events, but you’d have found me at the back of a cross-country, in spite of my aerobic capacity garnered from swimming. And although I’ve been doing triathlon for a couple of years now, I’ve still not had enough time to build that big aerobic (fat burning) base.

In which case – as I’m saying that the Aerofit scan backed up what I already knew – does that make it pointless?

Not at all. As I’ve explained, there are all manner of results and data you can pull from this and some of the more interesting information for me revolves around the number of calories I burn per hour at a given rate of exertion. This has helped me to really nail a nutrition plan for my upcoming Ironman.

But the zones themselves have proven useful. It’s all very well to say, as someone still relatively new to endurance sports and is built for power rather than distance, I need to train long and easy to build an endurance base. But what is ‘long and easy’. Having those exact figures – those magic numbers if you will – has informed all my longer training since to the point that, when doing my longer  solo sessions, I no longer even have the speed/pace on display on my Garmin, judging everything on heart rate.

A few days ago, I went out and did one of my longest runs I’ll do for Ironman – a 32km effort – and based it purely on not exceeding the 70% (130bpm) heart rate that the aeroscan outlined. This kept it steady but, most surprisingly of all was that, by the end I felt pretty good. My legs were getting a little bit sore (I’d been running on hard paving rather than kinder trails or tarmac so this was to be expected) and I was thirsty (I’d kept hydration and nutrition down to pretty minimal levels) but still felt better than I’d expect to after this sort of training run. Turns out I’d only been running  a little over 6min/km, but the pace is of little importance in this sort of run – by keeping steady and at/under the magic number, I’d felt none of the usual peaks/troughs I’d have expected to feel during that sort of run and, to boot, I recovered really quickly too, ready to train the next day.

The acid test, of course, will come on Ironman race day. Can this training be turned into a goal time over 140.6 miles?