Race Report – Al Jazira Triathlon Race 2

The Al Jazira triathlon series in Ghantoot, as I said, forms the bread and butter of our racing season here in the UAE. Now held more or less monthly, this weekend saw the second race of the winter series. It was a special one for me as it marked almost exactly a year since my first ever triathlon.

I did my first over this course (750m swim, 26k cycle, 6k run) in January last year and have done four with the weekend being my fifth. My time has come down each time – 1.34 first time out, then 1.30 and 1.26 last season. The first race of this season, I hoped I'd knock a few minutes off as I'd trained hard and well over the summer...the week before the race, however, was somewhat interrupted – a press trip to Oktoberfest in Munich, a couple of overnight flights and a tight deadline in work meant I'd trained little, slept very little and felt pretty dehydrated. I posted a 2 minute PB with a 1.24 but, with a far better lead-up, I felt that I had another couple of minutes in me this time around and was excited to get going.

The swim start - all images by Probike.ae

It was a perfect morning for racing – bright and sunny with a cooling breeze but nowhere near as windy as it can get. The swim course is in a channel leading to the sea that curves around the Golden Tulip Al Jazira Hotel. I'm always nervous about the swim as it's by far my strongest discipline and I know I have to give a good showing. Fortunately, one of the top guys from the local Tri2Aspire team went out really hard and I was able to draft him the whole way – usually it's me leading, so I was surprised by how much better this felt. I was able to sight less and concentrate on keeping my breathing easy and fluid. Coming out the swim, climbing up the steps (killers!), past the pool and into the transition area, I felt as good as I have at this point.

Transition was smooth and, although I was a little slow and awkward getting my shoes on on the bike, I settled into a good cycle position and speed fairly quickly. Then the strangest thing happened – it felt good, really good, and fast.

As a strong swimmer and very novice cyclist, I'm used to seeing an endless procession of speedy racers flashing past me, but just a couple were trickling past. And, while travelling a lot faster, they weren't exactly tearing off into the distance – I was almost keeping up. By the halfway point on the ride, there were still a number of guys who I know as being top-level racers who hadn't yet passed me. Although I started to fidget and feel a little sore in the last quarter, the realisation of a really quick (for me) bike split kept me going.

I got into transition and, despite dropping my bike while trying to rack it, I didn't panic and felt OK hitting the run. Which was almost a carbon copy of the bike leg. If I were mid-pack, I'd be a decent enough runner, but up near the front I'm still found wanting. Being so much further forward than I usually am at this point, I expected a wildebeest stampede of runners to fly past – a few muscled past, one or two did leave me for dead but, by and large, I felt good, strong and fast.

The last few metres, heading down to the finish line, I was almost giddy...1.17...I was on for a 1.17!!!

1.17.13, it turned out...and I was blown away. 11^th in the men's 16-39 category.

I realise, in retrospect, that this was the result of a summer's good training – in the last race, it was a miracle I'd even finished given the week before it I'd had...with a good lead-in, this time I saw all the benefits.

There's three weeks till the next race – though that'll purely serve as a brick workout ready for the Global 11 International (olympic distance) race a couple of weeks later. But I'm ready and raring to go. Just hope I can prove that this week's race wasn't a complete fluke!

Triathlon: from this...

...to this, in almost exactly one year.

A growing scene – triathlon in the UAE

The Middle East is not exactly synonymous with triathlon. It’s certainly a young sport here in the UAE but, like in the rest of the world, one that’s growing fast.

The first big difference, as I mentioned before, is that – due to sweltering summer heat that regularly climbs above 45°C – triathlon is a winter sport here. You can train during summer – pools are chilled and as long as you cycle or run slowly and very early or late in the day – whereas, for around eight months of the winter, conditions are fantastic. Warm every day, very little rain, few storms…

But, anyway, that means that, as most the rest of the tri-competing world is currently taking a bit of time off or contemplating their winter training schedules, we’re just getting going here.

The fantastic people who run Emirates Triathlon organise a sprint series, with a  regular monthly 750m/26k/6k triathlon taking place at Ghantoot (on the border between Dubai and Abu Dhabi). With so many Brits, Europeans, Americans, Suth Africans, Aussies and Kiwis mixing here, in Dubai especially, there’s a huge appetite for triathlon and these sprints usually sell out (250 capacity) three weeks or so before the event. They’re getting more and more popular too.

Golden Tulip Al Jazira - starting point for the swim in the Ghantoot sprint tri series races.

For me, as a novice but OKish triathlete, they form great B races and barometres for my training. There are bigger events I’m more focused on, but these Ghantoot tris form the bread and butter for most of us based here.

Anyway, the next of these sprints is bright and early tomorrow morning (6.30am start as it’s still quite warm once the sun’s fully up). I’m really looking forward to it to see how I’ve improved over the summer, plus it’s the first race I feel I’ve had a nice, relaxed week leading into the race which, due to work, rarely happens. I’m hoping I can turn that into a PB.

I’ll let you know how I get on…

10 sure-fire signs that you’ve been bitten by the triathlon bug

1.             Your bike is worth more than your car
2.             You’re invited to the hottest party of the year and your first thought is how it’ll affect training and whether you can work it into a rest day
3.             Your cabinets are filled with talc, Vaseline/Bodyglide and protein/carb supplements
4.             You have the washboard  abs you always dreamed of that are the envy of all your friends, and yet you’re more concerned with shaving a couple of seconds off your transition time
5.             All of your trainers have elastic laces in them
6.             People generally think you’re a bit mad
7.             You get up earlier at the weekend than you do during the week
8.             While others dream of winning the lottery to buy cars, villas and holiday homes, you’d happily blow the lot on Zipps, Ridley frames, Di2 gear sets and Louis Garneau aero helmets
9.             Secretly, deep down inside, although you’d never admit it, you sort of think of people who ‘just’ bike, swim or run are kind of weak
10.             You’re never, ever, ever happy with the gear you have…there’s always something else

And a few just from the men's point of view: 

·         You own more lycra/spandex than your wife or girlfriend

·         Having a shave now takes a lot longer and doesn’t just involve your face

·         Thanks to group rides, you spend way too much time staring at other men’s arses

·         You spend whole days, entire races or even long training weekends with extremely fit women wearing next to nothing and it doesn’t even raise a twitch

·         Taking your bike apart to clean it and dealing with mechanical issues make you feel all awesome and manly inside

·         They’re recovery tights? What? Whaaaat?

·         If you see a beautiful woman riding an awesome bike, you almost certainly check out the bike first

Have I missed anything? 

I’d just like to add a little something which I clearly and dearly hold to be true: while all the gear infatuation, the bright riding clothes, the long compression socks, the 2XU recovery tights and the tight spandex racesuits may suggest that we’re not in a position to comment, however…men wearing one of those three-quarter singlet type tops that expose your belly button is completely and utterly wrong, and should be a capital punishment offence. There’s just no need – they’re an affront to sighted people the world over. Cut it out – right out. OK, rant over.

Just not right

Look back to the future

As triathletes, we're constantly looking forward. Browse forums and, beneath each post, you'll find a list of the poster's main events for the year ahead. We talk next week's training, how we'll taper for our next race, even the next pair of shoes, wheels or nutritional strategy we're looking to adopt. Such is the intensity and hard work involved in triathlon that it's not unusual for us to plan a couple of seasons ahead, especially if a first tilt at Ironman or a marathon is involved.

This week marks my one year triathlon anniversary. A year since I lined up on the poolside for the Al Ain Sprint Triathlon (Al Ain is a small inland oasis city in the UAE). I swam 500m in a pool wearing supermarket swimming trunks and, despite my background being in swimming, I was exhausted after just 150m. I then put shorts and a t-shirt on and slowly cycled four laps of 5k on a mountain bike (knobbly tyres and all) that I'd never ridden before while everyone raced past on their speed machines. I then ran 5k, as far as I'd ever really run before. It killed me, but I loved it.

My first tri: kid's bike helmet - check; borrowed MTB - check; bad clothing choices - check; still some podge to lose - check check check.

Even arriving at that point had been a three year journey – a super sporty kid who swam at a national level became a lazy student and inactive journalist who played 5-a-side football once a week in an effort to keep the rapidly increasing beer belly and jowls in check.

One day, while living in Spain, I looked at myself in the mirror and said enough is enough. Like Forest Gump, I just started running. And then lifting weights. By the time I moved to Dubai, I was in far better shape and a series of random happenings saw me, firstly, living briefly with three triathletes and, secondly, taking on several sections of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge as part of a media team to cover and blog on the event. That Al Ain sprint tri was part of the training for that.

By the time the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge concluded after the first week of December 09, I was addicted and committed to becoming a half decent triathlete. Heading into my second year now (and second season – unlike in the US and Europe, summers here are way too hot and so triathlon is effectively a winter sport), I have a whole load of sprints and an Olympic under my belt. I regularly ride 80k+ in a single sitting and can do a long slow run of around 20k.

And this is exactly why it's just as important to look back as it is to look forward. After a bad training session, a slow race or an interrupted week, it can feel like all that effort is getting us nowhere – I've had plenty of those times in training. But I look back on the person who sat on that borrowed mountain bike a year ago, and the difference is startling. 

To see improvements, you need to look at where you've come from, not the baby steps you take each week or month.

The first cut is the deepest...

...and the first blog is the hardest. By its very nature, of course, no-one will read it, or certainly not for a while – why would they? It's the first post; until now, this little corner of cyberspace didn't exist.

The point being, that I'm not quite sure what to say, so I figure I'll just tell you a little about me. I'm a British journalist who works for a travel/guidebook publishing company. I've been living and working in Dubai for two years and I'm a relatively recent convert to the wonderful world of triathlon.

This blog is going to be about a wide range of things but, in theory at least, triathlon, training in silly hot temperatures and how to be a triathlete in a multi-sports backwater (albeit, one that's progressing quickly).

So, that's enough for now. Due to an electricity cut in the office, I'm working from home today so I'm off to do some proof reading by the pool...admit it, you hate me already, right?

A hard day at the office.