Step-up in Training

Early last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to stay overnight at one of my Saudi friend’s Camel Farm. We drove 250km out of Riyadh and left the motorway on a junction which literally had 100 metres of 3-lane dual carriageway off to the left, which then abruptly stopped and turned into open desert. In the distance I could see a campsite with 3 or 4 tents, a couple of trailers and some pens full of camels. We went into the main tent which had an open fire, rugs and a few typically Arabic hard cushions for propping yourself up against. My friend’s Father was there to meet us and he made me feel most welcome. Over the day I was there we ate traditional food, drank Arabic coffee and took part in administering the camels. This was a fantastic experience and I was truly moved by the way I was treated and looked after by the family. My brief 24 hours living as a Bedouin gave me an entirely new perspective on life in Saudi Arabia and I will never forget it.

The camp site was away from the main farm, which consisted of a barn, single house, some pens, a well and an irrigated circular ‘field’ that is in the process of being prepared for the first plantation of potatoes. The farm is set in a shallow valley in the sand, which has vast tracts of open desert and is surrounded with different kinds of sand banks and dunes of varying height. This is the perfect training area for the MDS and I have a free offer to visit for weekends whenever I chose. I can’t wait to get my trail running shoes now and get out there with my pack.

Training has stepped up a notch over the last week or so. I ran in the Riyadh Runners’ Half Marathon at the Dirab Golf course last Friday carrying my pack with the new front pouch. I ran with Chris and we were on for a 2 hour finish, but Chris’s foot injury flared up again and slowed us on the third and final lap; we finished in just under 2 hours 6 minutes, Chris pipping me with a sneaky sprint finish that I couldn’t stick with (the bugger!). The pack assembly was very comfortable and spread the few kilos I carried well. It will need some modification before upping the loading and doing any real distance, as the pouch bounced annoyingly. Some elastic from the front edges to the pack side straps should sort it out with a Velcro release.

Though this week I have taken to training for an hour before work, just hitting the cardio/fat-burning on the bike and rower. The evenings have entailed double sessions of boxing circuits, sprint circuits and hour long bike stints. This has had the effect of stripping down some of my puppy fat and I’m almost under 90kg for the first time in over 7 years since my boxing days. This weekend has been limited to a single 10 mile lap of the Diplomatic Quarter (with light pack). I had a big Christmas party with friends last night and have spent the remainder of the weekend completing the final regular module of my degree’s first year – study break now until 9 January, so I can really get stuck into admin and sponsorship collection for the MDS.

Diplomatic Running

Another good solid weekend of training! I went with Chris to meet the Riyadh runners early on Thursday morning at the Diplomatic Quarter and met some thoroughly nice people. There were ten or so runners who after a chat and a bit of limbering up, set off and quickly split into fast and not-so-fast groups. I was most certainly in the latter.

An outside lap of the ‘DQ’ is just over 10 miles, and Chris had previously agreed with most of the others that the day’s run would be two laps. The pace was comfortable (about 5.10min/km) and the scenery was a pleasant change from the limited views offered by the compound; I felt like a gazelle (or elephant) being released from captivity! The route had a good mix of natural views out over a vast wadi system to the South, the cityscape of Central Riyadh to the North, and some fairly complex and expensive looking landscaping all around the DQ’s grounds. The only downside to the DQ is the occasional guard force soldier with little enough to do, but boss around harmless runners!

The first lap was quite comfortable and I did most of it up on my toes. After about 7 miles I thickened my gait to take the strain off of my calves, which had started to bulge. I seem to be able to go further on my toes on successive runs – hopefully I’ll be a natural bare-foot runner by April?! On the second lap the pace gradually slowed, as Chris had picked up an injury to his foot. By the last couple of miles everyone else had gone on ahead, dropped back or had stopped at an earlier marker. Chris and I had slowed to 6.15min/km, but were enjoying being out and getting some miles on the legs. It wasn’t until this point that Chris revealed that this was the furthest e had ever run in his life! We both managed a sprint finish into the car park, where happy-snaps were had with some of the remaining runners and a beeline was made for the Starbucks.

Training on my own is fine, but it was really good to meet up with and be amongst experienced runners. We gave each other tips and compared notes on all kinds of training and kit issues. Injury prevention is something that I’m keen to learn about and experience like these guys and gals have can’t be bought. It was also nice to meet people from outside my extremely limited social circle, and have a different perspective on life in Riyadh. Hopefully this will be the start of some new friendships.

Friday should have been a rest day, but I could not resist turning out to support ‘Run Together Riyadh’ in aid of Cancer Research. The plan was to toddle around in slow time with some of my colleagues and test out my new Raidlight pack. Unfortunately I picked Peter and Gary to run with. Peter was wearing an inflatable camel, but he didn’t let this slow him down; we got around the two laps of the BAe compound (5km) in 28min 41sec - not setting any world records, but a lot faster than I was planning to run on my rest day! The race was won well by an Army Colonel from the British Military Mission, and the event raised a lot of money for a great cause. Well done to Laura for her meticulous organisation; she really has set the benchmark for me to live up to when it comes to my Team’s half marathon and fun run in February.