And so it begins…

Well, I’m back from Japan. The running target was hit (kind of), and the steps target was doubled almost daily; my count was over 30,000 steps most days. We watched lots of rugby, visited lots if shrines (inundated with thousands of Japanese and foreign visitors; ruined the insta-worthiness), and drank a LOT of beer. Now, half term is over, school has recommenced and Ironman training really does need to start.

Japan showed me just how unfit I really am. I wrongly assumed that by moving from the desert to a cool, rainy, North Western Pacific island, my running would be MILES better than it is in Dubai. NOT the case. Whether as a result of tiredness from the flight (I refuse to call it jet-lag unless I’m pacing the room at 3am), the humidity or the sheer number of Heinekens I drank, my running was dreadful. My asthma had me doubled over next to the Kamogawa River in Kyoto, wheezing. Apparently all those electric cars zipping around haven’t actually done that much for the pollution levels…

I wrote last week about holding myself accountable for my training, and how I really want this blog to do that, but this week I’ve also been really inspired by some interviews on Sarah Williams’ Tough Girl Challenge podcast. The idea that really hit me was my need to have races booked in to actually make me do my training; otherwise, I am often quite happy to revert to my natural ‘bookworm on the sofa’ state. Two or three races a year used to be enough for me, but I’ve recently noticed that this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. I used to be able to rock up to a 10km or even a half marathon and race comfortably, even if I hadn’t specifically targeted that race…those days are well and truly over for me. Dubai has broken my fitness.

So I’ve landed, binned the booze, started actually taking my preventative inhaler and have been getting in to bed by half nine every night. So far, my Training Peaks is all green, although it is admittedly only Wednesday. Over the next few months, I have entered myself for half marathons, sportives, 10k races and two Half Ironman Distances.

With all this taking up space in my overwhelmed little brain, the main challenge I face will be organization. I know so many people out here in Dubai who say they have far more time for a work-life balance here than they did in the UK. Whilst I do agree with that I feel like I have a better work life balance, I genuinely think that’s because I now know when to say no, and not because I have a quieter life. Between work, triathlon, gym, golf, cooking and friends and family visiting, my husband and I are regularly like ships passing in the night… and this is before I start training for the biggest race I have ever taken on!

Next on the hit list is the Coast to Coast ride from Sharjah to Fujairah on the 15^th of November. I’ve joined in the back group in the hope that I can maintain 27.5km/h for the duration. I know that riding in a group is supposed to be easier, drafting saves energy etc.. but at the end of the day it’s still 200km across an entire country. The flat will be fine (totally used to that riding in the desert), but my poor legs haven’t seen a hill since racing in Ibiza in October 2018, so it could be a very interesting (see: disastrous) race. I have a couple of weeks of good quality training to put in, and fingers crossed my current state of non-fitness will get me to that pint of non-alcoholic beer on the Fujairah coast…