The Road Less Travelled & Flown

It is the end of day one of my 2-day workshop in my 19^th country of work. It took me nine hours of travel, with another five hours waiting at a beautiful airport I had always dreamt of passing through. Seven hours confined in a plane with a guy with hyperactive sweat glands is a challenge I can do without – and I exercised my profound patience and Zen breathing. Thankfully, three and half films distracted me from the whiff and my lack of sleep. Air Emirates is a very nice airline, I must conclude, with the wide range of nationalities who speak almost impeccable English, wide personal-entertainment-systems (PES) screens, and generosity with drinks (I'll leave this as that).

After capturing a picture of the sunrise, I headed off to prepare for my class. My class started at 8.00am (that is five hours behind my actual body clock) and I ensured a restful evening – no supper/dinner and straight to bed after watching comedy-on-cable-television. I have a class that is open to learning, but bouncy on their time. I learnt that the night before, there was a major sandstorm that blew through town. I was advised to avoid running in the open as it could be risky. Now I understood why there was a whistling at my window late last night. So much for catching nature in its full fury!

I haven’t trained for three days so will head over to the gymnasium for two hours of aerobic stimulation. My legs are not sore anymore, but my lower back is sore (after all my flight-time, seated). It is time to fully focus on my next Ironman quest. Lots of riding, swimming, circuit training and core stability work for me. I have my work cut out for me. I envy those of you working out this weekend. Train safe. I will share with you my new reasearch results on injury-free running and riding shortly. Meanwhile, if your knees or quadriceps hurt while riding - you seat is, probably, too low. Get your saddle/seat-post adjusted. Customised fitting leads to extra speed. Rested legs after riding equals better running performance in the triathlon.