by : notatriathlete Uncategorized

Urban Ultra RockRunner

A rock-solid return to racing…

2020. The year of the unmentionable. Definitely, not the year of racing I had planned. However, in the midst of the craziness, the UAE’s Urban Ultra has managed to pull off a fantastic event which, despite taking place in the rugged, intimidating Hajjar foothills, could not have been more welcoming.

As the name suggests, Urban Ultra are responsible for some of the more mental races out here in the UAE. Those of you who have been reading my blogs for the last year will remember my stinker of a performance the the Coast-to-Coast last year – another UU event. They love a crazy challenge – and thank god, as my running mojo has, in recent months, buggered off to somewhere seemingly irretrievable. Of late, my long runs around the community have begun to err on the dull end of the spectrum, but a renewed discovery of the trails has made these the high point of my training week.

I can safely say that this race has re-vamped my love of running. It was bloody brilliant. With distances of 5km, 10km, 15km and 30km on offer it’s completely inclusive, even for families wanting to experience the wildness of the Hajjars in a safe, community-friendly way. For the more mental, 30km of wadi-winding is on offer, including some spectacular views and scrambles on the out-and-back route.

I (sensibly) opted to stick to 15km for my first trail race, and what a race it was. With COVID measures still very much in pace here in the UAE, the return to racing has had to look a little different. Triathlon starts feature a thousand dots for athletes to follow to the sea, no check in and super luxurious, spaced out transition areas. Road running races seem to, for the most part, consist of long, socially distant queues for the start line. Urban Ultra are trialing their genius Arrive and Run approach, whereby athletes can turn up at any point between certain times, wander to the start line and begin at their own leisure. For someone who finds race mornings extremely stressful, this proved absolutely ideal. It didn’t matter that I was late for my planned 6:30 arrival… I could run any time I wanted before 8am! There was virtually no one on the start line when I arrived, so I washed my hands, had my temperature taken and off I went – the most stress-free race start in history.

A sunrise start out at Showka

For the first three kilometers or so, the course follows jeep tracks and goat trails through the foothills of the Hajjar mountains before plunging in to some shaded, green wadis. The ground varies between sand and big, loose rocks, providing plenty of technical challenge for newbies like me! There are some impressive scrambles through colourful, water eroded rock formations before you burst out of super narrow channel to make the climb to the highest point of the course. It’s not steep, but for someone whose running has recently consisted mostly flat tarmac, a decent challenge! The highest point gives rise, if you can catch your breath, to some pretty impressive vistas out towards the desert before plunging down a steep, technical and exhilarating descent to the turning point. It was definitely a case of ‘run like Phoebe from Friends’ as I went careening down the mountain, trusting my feet and legs to find purchase on the rocky outcrops. You then drop back to the Wadi area, before hitting the turnaround point at 7.5km, grabbing some fresh fruit (with newly sanitized hands!), filling up on water and, yes, heading back up that steep, technical and exhilarating descent you just flew down. Not so fun going up, but actually a nice way to stretch and move your body around before the main descent back through the wadis.

The steady, continual descent on the way down really did show me why I was so out of breath on the way up – you make quite a bit of steady, continuous ascent in the middle few kilometres of the outward leg. I managed to get all the way to the 12km point before getting lost in a wadi – cue a scramble up the steep bank to re-join the intended route just before the 12.5km checkpoint. The last few kilometers were tough, mentally, the rolling foothills much less welcoming now that the temperatures had peaked to around 30 degrees and my legs were filled with lead! However, the beauty of trail running is that you are so bloody focused on where your feet are that you forget to worry about how long you still have to go – a massive plus for someone so prone to negative self-talk in a race! I flew down the final 800m or so of the trail, stumbling over the finish line delightedly – my first trail race, and I hadn’t thought about quitting.. not even once!

All in all, I have to say that this is probably the most I have enjoyed a running race in a very long time. There was no pressure, no PB-chasing, no benchmark to hit. The views were amazing and the stewards super cheerful and friendly. The course was well marked, unless you stopped paying attention (guilty!). UU followed all the COVID regulations to a tee, showing us that the return to racing really is on.

by : notatriathlete Uncategorized

So much for getting back to normal…

Well, it’s been a weird few months. I think, wherever you are in the world, we can all agree on that. Dubai seems to have gone from lovely balmy March mornings to blazing June heat in the blink of an eye, and for us in the desert, the school year is very nearly done.

For me, as for most of the world’s population, any plans for 2020 have gone out of the window, including Ironman Wales in September. After months of uncertainty, the Ironman brand have seen sense and postponed the event to September 2021, effectively cancelling this year. For most of us this has come as a huge relief, especially as most athletes registered have not been able to swim since March. It came as a particular relief to me for a few other reasons too.

Unlike the UK ‘lockdown’, the regulations put in place here in the UAE were extremely strict. Now that we are beginning to emerge on the other side I’m glad of this, but at the time it was tough. For a four week period between mid-March and mid-April, no one here could leave the house without an electronic permit. These were only issued to each person once every three days, and only for essential trips such as groceries or medicine. Outdoor exercise was categorically not allowed. This meant that in addition to losing my swim fitness, my run fitness dropped off a cliff too.

I used the turbo almost every day, but even that became soul crushingly boring. Once restrictions were lifted at the end of April, I was basically incapable of running. I decided to challenge myself to run 5km every day for thirty days, just to regain some semblance of fitness. At the time we had to run in a mask, and by May in the UAE, temperatures really are beginning to hit the mid-thirties. Gross. However, I managed 26 days before I fell off the 5km wagon, just in time for restrictions to lift further and allow us to travel to the cycling track. The freedom of leaving the compound was HUGE.

We now have gyms, beaches and the cycling track open here, and rumour has it that pools will be next. I, however, will not be swimming. In a bout of total idiocy, I managed to come spectacularly off my bike last Friday morning. I had met up with some friends for an easy spin around the Al Qudra loop, was just about to set off when I casually went to drop my banana skin in the bin.

Somehow, I ended up over the handlebars with my bike on top of me, in front of at least thirty people. More embarrassed than in pain, I shook myself down and off we went. My elbow felt a bit wonky, but I told myself it was just a bump and not to be such a wimp. I managed this for 40km, by which point I was unable to put any weight at all on my left arm. I limped back to the car, supporting all my weight on my right arm. By the time I got home (thank goodness I drive an automatic!), the pain was such that we dashed straight to the hospital, me yelling at my poor husband every time he hit a speedbump at anything over 0.2mph.

The verdict is a fractured elbow that will apparently just heal on its own, as long as it stays in a sling. I’ve been told not to do any sport for a fortnight, until there is no pain in my elbow. Regardless, I’ll definitely be heading to the gym this week, if only to hit the stepper and the leg machines. My running fitness will have to wait.