New year, new start

Well, what a year 2012 was. Personally, the changes were immense: from Dubai to Amsterdam; from living alone to shacked-up bliss; from Managing Editor to, erm, well, freelancer/job seeker... But it was a breakthrough year for me in terms of triathlon too, and that's something I'm hoping to continue into 2013.

This year, I spent Christmas and New Year at my folks' house for the first time in around five years and it was terrific. I caught up with friends and family, ate, drank and was merry. The girlfriend was there for most of it too and it was fun to show her the way us Brits celebrate Chrimbo and New Year (the traditional pantomime was a bit of an eye-opener) ... as well as introducing her to the football Mecca that is Goodison Park.

After a bit of northern uproar, we headed down to London Town for some more thrills and spills... maybe a few too many as, by the time we got back home to Amsterdam, I was sick as a sod and spent the next couple of days shaking like a nodding dog in the back of a bulldozer, with a head that felt as if it had been used as the ball for a Stoke vs West Ham match.

This long-winded, overblown and probably, now I think about it, a bit unnecessary exposition is basically my version of the school boy's "the dog ate my homework, sir" excuse. I'm supposed to be two weeks into my marathon training programme now and, instead, I've done two sessions.

I didn't mind missing a few sessions while back in the UK. I've put in some solid base miles (following the MAF principles) in the previous months, so an extra few days of enjoying myself wouldn't hurt, I decided. But I was eager to dive right back in as soon as we got back Dutch side, so the flu virus that wiped me out for a few days was a kick in the teeth.

One thing I did learn last year was that ignoring illness, injury or fatigue doesn't work. So I accepted defeat, rested up and waited... I was champing at the bit by the time I headed out this evening and, although it was only a little 7km run at 5.25/km pace, I was happy and excited to be out. That's one of the real benefits of taking breaks - something that doing triathlon in Dubai didn't really encourage - you need to get a little fat and lazy sometimes; you need to wake up and think about what chocolate bar to eat first rather than how far to swim that morning; you need to measure a day in pints rather than kilometers... That's where motivation and true long-term results come from, I think. It certainly seems to be the case for me, at least, because I'm now more excited about getting race fit again than I have been since Ironman Austria back in July.

And so it starts... I'm happy to be back in proper training and that means that normal service is resumed in terms of the blogging too. So, good news for those of you who get easily bored in work... You'll be hearing plenty more from me soon enough.

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.

 

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!  

Reasons for racing

So, if you follow this blog, I don't need to describe what Ironman is or just how much I've had to put into just getting to the start line. But that only gets you to the start line...the day itself is a whole different matter.

For us amateurs (it may be different for the pros who skip around the course like newborn lambs in a spring meadow) doing such feats of physical endurance inevitably takes you to some pretty dark places. No matter how well the day goes, there'll be times when I want nothing more than to shut up shop and stop. I imagine those times will come for me whenever I cycle or run past a pretty beer garden! 

On a serious note, they always say that, to do something like this, you need to race for something bigger than yourself. For friends, for family, for a loved one, for a cause... whatever... but you need somewhere to turn when the dark moments come. My experience of climbing Kilimanjaro half starved and delirious with altitude sickness certainly told me that this is true. If you can keep going, you'll see the other side sooner than you think, but you need someone or something to keep you going until the light returns.


I know that, should I reach the finish line on 11 September, I'll look up and have a little word with my grandad who I've asked to keep an eye on me (and give me a celestial push up the hills!) during the race.


But I've also got another motivation for getting around that course. I’m doing this feat of idiocy/bravery/awesomeness (delete as applicable) in aid of The North Wales Chrysalis Trust which supports children with life threatening, limiting or fatal illnesses and their families. An amazing and worthwhile cause, I’m sure you’ll agree.  


I hope it doesn't sound trite or contrived to say as much, but every time I race in a marathon, a triathlon or even head out on a long ride, I think how lucky I am to have a strong and fit body that supports all the things I want to do (although if it could learn to do them a bit faster..!). When I come away from a race a little disappointed that I missed the top 10 or didn't get a PB, I always try to remind myself that some people (and kids at that) would give anything just to be able to take part. It's something we should never, ever take for granted.

So, it’d be great if you could click on this link and sponsor me a quid or two - every little helps. Thank you so much.

In the long run

Been a good week so far as, on Tuesday, I managed to accidentally exceed my longest planned run day – and two weeks early. Basically, due to running loops (so I can refuel and rehydrate back at the car), I did a 14k morning run (supposed to be 13k) followed by an 18k evening run (supposed to be 16k). Obviously, 32k is a great day’s work (WIN!) but I have to admit to feeling pretty damn awful and slow towards the end of the evening run (LOSE!).

In many ways, that’s to be expected. My ideal goal pace for long training runs is around 5:30/km. I decide to allow a little leeway for the heat and aim for 5:40/km which I managed with ease in the morning and just about struggled to for the first 9k in the evening. And then I died.

After some in depth reading, it seems that actually around 10-20% should be allowed for in these extreme temperatures, so 6:00/km throughout would be ideal. Now I know… Next week’s long run will be down to around 30k, followed by an easy 18 in one sitting during my easy recovery week. Then back up to around 30-32 for the final time the week after that.

On the positive side, hell, I did a 32k run in hellishly hot and sweaty conditions. And the following evening (yesterday) I did a nice, easy 10k recovery run holding the 6:00/km pace and felt relatively fluid and easy considering (that’s a marathon in 36 hours, all told).  

Anyway, ready for the big weekend session now.