Yas Island Triathlon - Abu Dhabi

Yas Island is an amazing location for the Tri

Our good friend Mr.H returned to see us becuase;

a) he loves us - in particular my feminists arguments
b) he can get cheap flights due to his BFF being a pilot
c) he and Johan were signed up to do the Yas Island Triathlon in Abu Dhabi

They were doing the Olympic distance which equals a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle around the Yas Island F1 track, topped off with a 10km run. It starts late afternoon to miss the killer mid day heat, that said at about 33°Cit's still pretty hot to be doing that amount of out door exercise in. 

Cocktail's = Tri training who knew!

I have to say I'm a big fan of Mr. H's approach to fitness. His theory is, that as beer and burgers contain carbs and sugar, they're pretty much super foods for training like Mars bars - as such, all should genorously partaken of.

The great love of Johan's life.....his faithful Cervélo
all ready to go!

Old School fitness for Mr. H - reminiscent of the days when proffessional footballers used to have a pint at half time.

Non of this silly abstenaince and macro-biotic diet rubbish, beers + burgers = Tri training, simples!

Now as much as the boys love some extreme exercise they also love a bit of 'friendly' competition and banter.  

I suffered a week of preparatory training, with swimming lessons, pumping up bicycle tires in the living room, sneaking off to the pub to discuss 'strategy' and chatting incessantly about speeds, distance and hydration. 

And of course ribbing each other about who would be better, faster, stronger at every opportunity. 

I almost spontaneously changed sex due to the amount of testosterone floating around our house.

Johan absolutely aced the swim!

Unfortunately, the boys were put in different start waves - which mean't my dual role as chief cheerleader and official photographer was even more challenging, due to having to run from one activity to the next.

The burger and beer training obviously paid off though because the boys both did great - I sound like a proud Mum eek!


Now as a first time spectator of a triathlon I have to say it was surprisingly good fun. I was initially quite intimidated by the prospect, figuring it would be all serious athlete's types and their entourages.

Although there were a few of those, on the most part people were normal and it was a great atmosphere. What surprised me was the diversity of participants, it was really inspiring to see people of all ages and abilities having a go. 


This made me harbour a split second thought of "hmmmmm maybe I could do it?!". 


Thankfully those silly thoughts quickly subsided.

Johan in transition 

One thing I couldn't quite believe is there was no free snacks available for competitors, there was water that was it. 


Usually, a protein bar or hydro - gel brand sponsor such events, giving away free snacks and drinks  but here nada. The organisers are really missing a trick, they need to get a sponsor on board as everyone was complaining about it and all the poor participants were ravenous by the time they'd finished. 

Mr. H popping an artery 

Unfortunately, due to a miscalculation of the clock the 'official photographer' was having a little sit down, chat and a coffee and accidentally missed the boys both coming over the finish line, oops sacked!

To the victor, the spoils!

The result was, that although, Mr. H did very nearly give himself a cardiac arrest, (he couldn't breath properly all the way back to Dubai) he beat Johan by 2 mins on the run. A surprise to us all and a fact that will be much recycled, for 'nose rubbing in it' purposes between their circle of friends.

Spurred on by this epic humiliation - (being beaten at anything by Mr.H is a fate worse than death), Johan is now resolved to do an Iron Man, to cleanse the shame.

An Iron Man is even harder- it includes a 3.86Km swim, 180km cycle and a tiny little Marathon squeezed in at the end to finish it off !

My life will be made a misery whilst he trains for this, I'll be forced to exist on protein shakes and be in bed by 8pm,*sigh*


To finish folks I'd like to big up myself for this post - as I've never written anything about sports or a sporting event before.....check me out, I'll be having opinions about the offside rule next! ;-)