There are three distances in the AD Tri – Sprint, Short and Long, and just to add some confusion to anyone that already knows about these things, or who has been paying attention to some of my other blogs, they’re not the normal distances you would expect to find ! A normal Sprint, for instance, is 750m swim, 20km bike and a 5km run, the AD sprint has a 50km bike ride instead ! The other two are equally odd but as swimming is currently my weakest discipline, I have to be realistic, even if I have got 3-4 months to improve it I was unlikely to be able to go up to 1.5km (which is the distance for the short course – along with a 100km bike ride and a 10 km run. The Long course is double all of that !).
Anyway – that leaves me with a number of tasks. Firstly I have to get my swimming up to speed (well, endurance actually.) Most Triathlons out here have open water swims so there’re added complications, and somehow I have to get to grips with that. There is a race around an island hotel (the Burj Al Arab – the fmouse “big sail” looking one……) on the 11th November, which is 800m but I’m not sure about a couple of things, whether I’ll be fit enough, whether I need a wetsuit (which I probably will do for the AD Tri) and whether I should be worried about the shark warnings that cleared Dubai’s beaches last week………..
I also need to buy a bike. This is a slightly more pressing problem (before the end of the year at the very latest) but my personal financial advisor (Mrs G) says I can’t have one until I’ve saved up for it and I can’t save up for it until I’ve sorted out some other stuff first……..I can see a charm offensive on the horizon ! I could get promoted at work, or win the lottery, but I’m all out of rich relatives to charm (or inherit from !). Even a decent entry level road bike and bits (helmet, pedals, shoes, etc.) is going to cost me the thick end of a grand, and although I could probably get a cheaper entry level in the UK, by the time I’ve got it here there won’t be much in it. Then there’s the issue of fitting, servicing, what to do if anything goes Pete Tong, and in the end I think it stacks up to get it over here…….. Darling…….
I also need some other kit and bits and pieces, but as Santa’s coming, I think I know what my Christmas list is going to look like ! Talking of Christmas for a minute, today we got an e-mail with the date of our office Christmas Party……. I don’t know why, but it hadn’t crossed my mind that we’d have one……… Christmas isn’t a public holiday, here so leave, and fitting in all the families that want to return to the UK, will be a bit of a juggling act, but we’ve been promised Christmas or New Year off if we want it, so it’s just a case of getting our leave requests in and crossing our fingers (it’s the first time I’ve had to worry about this sort of thing for about 10 years – having worked for myself, it was easy to just do what I wanted….. not anymore !)
Back to Triathlons for a minute – I’ve also got to find at least one other minor one before I go for the biggie. I don’t want to make my cock-ups at the big one, with the worlds press on hand, following my every move……. Well, maybe not, but you know what I mean. So that got to fit in with the bike buying as well, just to add another complication to an already complicated scenario. Hopefully we can get it sorted out quickly because if I’m back off down to the desert and then I’ll have the perfect opportunity to get out and ride, as the roads there are smooth (generally), wide, well lit and above all, quiet – hundreds of kilometers of empty tarmac just waiting for me to whiz over it, I can’t wait.
Lastly, and just so you can’t say you haven’t been warned, I think I’ll venture into the murky world of sponsorship for this event. I mentioned to a friend in the UK who runs a children’s charity, that I was going to do a Triathlon and she was like a rat up a drainpipe – so as I’ve never been bothered with this sort of sponsorship stuff before, and I’m getting a fairly easy ride with training etc. and because I feel a bit guilty that I’ve never done the sponsorship thing before (and because she’s very pretty and very persuasive) I’ll let you know the details shortly and then let the nagging begin !
Right, inventory time – money, cigars and alcohol are all pretty much stable (i.e. I haven’t got any so I can’t have any). I think I’m going to make a sort of only smoke the odd cigar at weekends sort of commitment……shortly, and until the 4th March at least so watch out for miserable grumpy buggers on bikes !
Food – finally yesterday, after much lunchtime exploring and countless expensive lunches in Costa Coffee and such like, I found a decent looking Shwarma (kebab) shop relatively near to work – AED 5 each. I knew they had to be out there somewhere but it took me to look for them and suggest we went there to an Arabic speaking colleague (there might have been questions !). We went, we saw and we conquered – and jolly nice it was too. I probably didn’t need the second one but you had to have two to know you didn’t need the second one……if you see what I mean……
Gym (to become known as training) – I can’t be bothered to look and see what I posted the last time I wrote, and therefore what has gone on since, but to summarise, Sunday was my rest day, Monday I woke up with a sore throat feeling snotty but swam anyway (I’m now up to 650m in 50m intervals – in two more sessions I will have reached the target distance and will start to cut out the intervals), and then last night, because I’m still feeling snotty, I went to the gym and did a relatively sensible cross-trainer and weights session. Tonight I’ll either run or bike, probably based on the machinery that’s available when get there. I’m still feeling snotty so I won’t go mad, but Phyco’s in town tomorrow and wants to do something, and because I’m back in her training zone on Sunday night for a few days (which is bound to cost me dinner somehow !) I need to feel better or she’ll kill me at circuits on Monday or a desert run on Tuesday (or both……..).
The weather is a cooling 37 degs today and looks set to stay that way for a few days at least. The night temperatures are dropping slowly (we’re about 23 degs at the moment) and they will be the bit that continues to fall, especially in the desert, so there may be a good chance I can get some sleep.
Pool tournament – I’ve had a disastrous few days and I’m now 8 – 5 down (having been 5 all). I haven’t been all that lucky, and on occasions haven’t played all that well, but to be fair to Julian, he’s been absolute mustard and I’ve been blown away. He even cleared up from a break the other day, I didn’t even get a shot, and there’s not much I can do about a frame like that !
I think that’s about it really, certainly for the moment, but there’s lots of things on the way – the AD GP in a about 3 weeks, the sevens and the golf (Race to Dubai) following on one weekend after another at the beginning of December, then the Camel Festival in Western Region, and the Dune buggy racing festival thingy the first week in January, horse racing, brunches and all manner of interesting things…….not least my successful training and sponsorship regimes, so TTFN and be good, and if you can’t be good then make sure you’re really filthy !
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