Two Oceans Experience for my Chicago Running Club Newsletter!

Run as One - Two Oceans 56km (35 miles) Ultra Marathon, Cape Town, South Africa

When I first joined Oak Park Runners Club in 2001, having been a lone runner and trained for my first marathon on my own, I was overwhelmed by the knowledge and experience of veterans that had run numerous races and marathons. It was then that I learned valuable lessons and tips such as NOT wearing cotton t-shirts to run, to actually have some sort of training plan (what? You just don't run... and run... and run?), and the meaning of words like "splits" and "pacing." Fast forward more than a decade later and I find myself in Dubai among a long distance running club called Dubai Creek Striders (DCS). Once again felt overwhelmed with incessant talk and details of everything from shoe wear about "newer" shoes such as Newton's and Hoka's, Garmin jargon (can it really measure heart rate? How much REM sleep you're getting? Get emails on it? What happened to the simplicity of start and stop? Or just splits?), and then all this Ultra marathon talk. That was one I had always turned a deaf ear too. Okay, there were the 'ol 30 Ultra mile races that many in the group had done, but here in Dubai, it is a surprisingly competitive environment and I personally know people that do 24-hour 1km runs (really, they run 1km loops and it is counted how many 1km you can do in 24 hours), 100 mile runs, 7 Emirate runs (running through all the 7 Emirates of United Arab Emirates, which is 357 miles!), and on and on. You don't know who actually tops the next person with extreme events. So when I made the grand decision to challenge myself to run my first ultra marathon after seemingly "everyone is doing it," needless to say, it didn't draw that much attention. 

The Two Oceans marathon in Cape Town, South Africa, is a staple in the international running community. It is not only known as one of the most beautiful courses, but also one of the toughest as it is very top heavy, the biggest hills are pretty much after the marathon point. So how the heck do I train for this thing in Dubai, one of the flattest cities around? Well, like training for Boston last year, we get creative and I used my same tactics: Stair climbing (good thing Dubai is known for its' tall buildings!), "hill" repeats on bridges, strength training, and a couple of long drives out to Hatta, an area that neighbors Oman, and ran some hills out there. What I learned with Ultra training is it is fairly similar to marathon training, but more, more, and more. My minimum weekly run up'd to about 7 miles and longer mid-week run to 11 miles. Kept up with interval training and took the advice of "run long runs slow and run intervals hard" to the best of my capabilities. Weekend long runs obviously got longer, with my longest run being 29 miles! My peak training weeks were 60-65 miles (2 of them). The key as veterans say is running on tired legs, so I did a back to back run, such as Thursday night and then Friday morning (our weekends here are Friday and Saturday), so 12-hour gap between long runs. Then I did a couple of 12-14 mile runs two days in a row. Some others did a morning and evening run (not for me!). And of course strength training, swimming, yoga, and foam rolling! 

When race day came, I felt fairly relaxed as had done all the training and felt ready. My race strategy was to break up the runs in segments. The course is marked off in kilometers, which I have taken to here as it goes by faster, so for the 56km run, broke it up in my head with little "rewards" at 15km, 21km, 30km, 42km, 50km - this was anything from taking a jelly bean, GU, or treat on the course. This race has all participants have their bib numbers on the front and back of their shirts, and on it was the number of Two Ocean Ultra runs you've done AND your age decade. So under 40 years old was blank, then it had "40" for anyone between 40-49, "50" for anyone between 50-59, and so on. I immediately noticed that I was in the minority for being under 40 years old. I was pleasantly surprised at not only how many runners were over 40, but how many had done so many ultras! The most I saw was 34, this gentleman was going strong being over 60 y/o. Needless to say, this was quite inspirational! Being distracted by this and the beautiful scenery was enough to keep me smiling and enjoying the run, especially that South Africans are so friendly and a few welcomed me and encouraged me, seeing it was my first and that I came from Dubai. As the first 30km is mostly flat, that went by in a flash. The first big o hill was just after that point, Chapman's Peak, which surprisingly was fairly smooth as legs were still "fresh." The 7 km downhill after that seemed never ending and it was tough to stay relaxed and "light" on my feet to not kill the quads. Then, as many of these veteran's mentioned, "the race starts just after the marathon marker," and boy was that true! Constantia's Nek is a long steep slope that, upon seeing pretty much everyone around me walking, I walked. It was a nice break, to be honest, and then was more "rested" for the rolling hills after that. But just when you think things are tough with majority of the hills being that last 10km, at 48-50km, is a road that has these very steep camber's, so the footing was super hard and that's when the twinges started in my legs. Fortunately was able to shake them out a bit, and I knew after that section, although still some more hills, the road was smooth. The finish comes into rugby stadium, full of huge crowds, cheering, and of course the finish line! My final time was 5 hours and 27 minutes!!!

So for anyone that is thinking about doing an Ultra marathon, age is just a number and it really isn't that different than a marathon and it is that much more rewarding to run longer at a slower pace. Having the hills to break up the muscle groups had a much quicker recovery than expected and am grateful to have such a relaxed, enjoyable, and healthy run! And there it is, I'm an Ultra Woman!

And... finally pics for the newsletter (everyone likes pics!):

Two Oceans 56km, Part 3/3: Cape Town!

WARNING: THESE 3 BLOGS ABOUT TWO OCEANS ARE SOLELY GOING TO BE ABOUT THE 56KM WITH INCESSANT DETAILS AND SCRUTINY! THIS WILL BE A GREAT REMINDER AND REFERENCE TO ME, BUT WILL BE UNGODLY BORING FOR ANYONE ELSE! TEXT SUPER BORING, BUT ADDED SOME PICS FOR ENTERTAINMENT! :-) 


It sounds a bit.... well, I admit, snobby, that I try to not and repeat countries. When the whole Two Oceans came up, I admit I did think, "to go back there... again?" I went to Cape Town (and lots of South Africa!) during the 2010 World Cup. Had a FAB-U-LOUS experience! Even went to Cape Town twice as the first time was during the World Cup and it was soo hectic and chaotic and the winds were too bad so everything was closed. Then after my friends went their separate ways, I came back and did all the touristy stuff, like Table Mountain, Rubben Island (where Nelson Mandela's jail was), and lots of things in between. BUT going back to a country, you can reminisce about it and recall some old pics like I did:

And of course being familiar with it and doing most of the "big" touristy things, like climbing Table Mountain, dune and dusted:

It makes for a MUCH more relaxing trip to not feel the pressure of seeing and doing as much as you can. And of course going back to a place like Cape Town, well, I actually could go back again and again, because it is just wonderful! And here we are again!

To start with, my running club as, as we now refer to them, DCS (the name of our club, Dubai Creek Striders) parents. We have this amazing, super dooper, AWESOME couple that not are not only the club president (and member) BUT pretty much organized the whole trip for us. They used to live here, practically have residency, AND Mags has run it a few times herself, and her hubby Brian is in the hotel biz so he has these amazing connections. So I would have to say this was almost the easiest trip I have ever been on. I think the only thing I did on my own is get the flight tickets. He organized the hotel, she organized the pre-race dinner, post-race dinner, and a few activities in between. It was just a matter of responding and saying "yes" or "no" to them. What else can you ask for???

Our hotel was Southern Sun Waterfront Hotel, which was conveniently literally a 2 min walk to the Convention Center where the Expo was - FAB! THEN the hotel was awesome enough to have shuttles to/from the waterfront, which was a 20ish min walk OR 5 min shuttle ride (as much as I love S.A., it is a bit dangerous and we were told not to walk around at night). It was sooo convenient and perfect! Having said that, I think I went to the Waterfront about.... 5 times? Haha. We went the first night, where I had a fab burger (hehe), the 2nd day for a late lunch, the day before the race for the Friendship Run and of course lunch later. Then the last night for dinner. Before the run was mostly going to Italian places with carbs, but after was all about Steaks!!!

Food highlights:
Beluga restaurant: Known as one of the better restaurants in Cape Town, had a nice set menu and great food. Great, but not super dooper excellent... I think so because of the Easter/Race weekend it was jam packed.
Gibson's at the Waterfront: Now we are talking! I actually haven't had steak... or wine for that matter, for AGES! So not only were both absolutely delicious, buuuuuuuuuuuut amazingly cheap!!! I still can't get over how cheap it is, I would almost go as far as saying that Dubai is 3-5x more expensive. Crazy!!!

Day trip! Cape Point:
Soo... my super friends Lyn-Si and Duncan had planned a day trip to Cape Point, the tip of S. Africa. The other peeps had planned to go for Wine Tasting, and knowing that not only am I not a big drinker but also that I don't like being cooped inside, they were super nice to invite me along. So we instead had a fab little day-trip to the Cape Point, amazing views and fab fresh air! Also nice to spend some QT with them (which .... lo and behold, they got engaged the next day, so even extra time to have QT with them!).

People:
I know it sounds a bit lame-o to say "the people are so nice!" Because it just sounds so cliche and .... I guess one can say most people are nice (I hope?). BUT really, being there again reminded me on my last trip and how much I enjoyed it because of the people. From the Expo when I swear at least 5 if not more people just started chatting to us... just to chat with us! Maybe they heard our accents and were curious, but I think just just super friendly! It was fun as hearing that we were first timers, they all offered some tid bits of little hints about the course and the run. Most was "don't take it out too fast and... ENJOY!" Even on the course itself WHILE running (which I looooooooooved), I had more than several people chat with me or just say things like "looking good Dubai!" Soo awesome! THEN, well, this still shocks me, in a nice way. My friend and I went to dinner at Gibson's the night before we were leaving for the steak and wine (hehe) and it started raining a bit. So we scooted in towards the umbrella just as the table next to us scooted in. So basically we ended up sitting right next to each other and of course started chatting. Ended up being super nice blokes and openly gay, so for us ladies (although my friend is married), makes it a bit more relaxing. We had a lovely conversation about anything and everything, and with the weather so nice and fresh (rain had stopped), great food, and great company, just was having a wonderful evening. So when the evening was winding down, we said goodbye and it seemed that they left rather quickly. Didn't even think twice about it. Then when we flagged down the waiter to pay, we heard the words that I almost had to sit down for, "the gentleman paid for you, you don't need to pay." WHAT!??!!?! I couldn't believe it! OMG, how nice is that?!! We tried to flag them down but they were already long gone by then and we think we got a wave from afar. SOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo nice and.... that sooooooooo sooooooooo rarely happens! Also so nice that it was an unassuming gesture, them just being nice. Wow!

The 5 nights and 4 full days went by in a jiff, loved it and soo glad that everything just .... worked out! NOT only with the success of the run, but being in a beautiful environment, amazing people, WONDERFUL food and drink, what else can you ask for?!!!

So now what?

Well, relive the moments

Wear the shirt endlessly and hope people ask you about it

Drink Two Oceans wine

Think about next year? Uh oh!!!! 

Two Oceans 56km, Part 2/3: RACE WEEKEND!!

WARNING: THESE 3 BLOGS ABOUT TWO OCEANS ARE SOLELY GOING TO BE ABOUT THE 56KM WITH INCESSANT DETAILS AND SCRUTINY! THIS WILL BE A GREAT REMINDER AND REFERENCE TO ME, BUT WILL BE UNGODLY BORING FOR ANYONE ELSE! TEXT SUPER BORING, SO ADDED SOME PICS FOR ENTERTAINMENT! :-) 

So for months and months you are training for this thing, and the next thing you know you are in Cape Town and the Ultra is a couple of days away.... then a day... then hours... then minutes... then seconds, eek!

Thursday:
If I were to advise anyone doing Two Oceans, it would be to get there a few days earlier and go to Expo early!! I arrived on Wed with a few friends and we went to the Expo on Thursday morning and it was busy, but not crazy... found all the right sizes, bought all sorts of random running things, and just enjoyed the atmosphere. We literally spent almost 4 hours there. NOT something wise the day before the Ultra, so even though we had to take a rest after, it was good to be relaxed and not too too worried about spending too much time on your feet. Expo was fab and because the rand is soooooo good right now compared to US dollar, which is linked to the dirham, it was incredibly cheap for us. Almost felt bad practically yelling, "OOMMMGGG, this is sooooooooo cheap!!" Because I know the locals around don't think so!! So stocked up on things like racefood (nutrition bar that is small and easy to digest and just yummy!) that we DO have in Dubai, but just a lot more expensive!!
Food: Was a bit... well, a LOT less nazi than I usually am.... well, pretty much the whole training. Just got sloppy and although was a kg or two heavier than I would have liked, somehow wasn't too bothered by it. So Wed had a burger for dinner (hehe, it is S. Africa afterall! But shows how relaxed I was), normal breakfast (not even carb heavy), and had pastas for lunch and dinner, but also a wee bit of protein, BUT nothing heavy. People kept on saying that THIS day was the most important for just... eating, eating, and eating as food will be processed by Sat vs. Friday it might be too close. So although it sounds silly, just tried to keep eating, but small stuff, like rice cakes, gluten free cookies, etc. Overall, enjoyed the Expo and got in the spirit:

Thursday was also prep day for the run, getting the outfit ready, analyzing the course, looking at pics of the medal and envisioning the finish line:

Yes, there are different medals depending on your time. So under 4 hours, under 5 hours, under 6 hours, and under 7 hours all get different medals! 

Friday:
The Friendship run! As international runners we pay more, BUT we get a lot more. On Friday, they organize what is called a Friendship run, an easy breezy 5.6km jog/walk around the waterfront. Just an opportunity to shake the 'ol legs, meet other international runners, and get excited for the next day's big run. It was super fun and it was a lovely beautiful and gorgeous day. I just loved the views, the fresh air, and again, the lovely easy going atmosphere. We literally stopped every km or so and re-grouped, took pics, and just laughed and had fun!

Pre Friendship Run meet-up

Below: The start!

 And we're off!

At the end, running BFF Kathryn and I!

Food: Did mostly carb heavy and again, tried to just snack and eat, eat, eat. This day really hardly did any protein or fats on purpose. DEFINITELY NO fiber for this day and even a day or two before!

Saturday: RACE DAY!!!!!
Weather predicted report: The whole week and even the day before and morning of, it was predicted to be rainy all morning and then windy AND get a bit cooler. Almost reminded me of Boston! 
Run Outift: Pink'ish shorts that had a zipper in the back where I put 2 extra backup gels. My pink/purple'ish CEP Compression socks, my HOKA bondi shoes (yesss!), a Dubai Creek Striders vest (tank top), a race belt (that I bought at the expo and stuffed 3 racefoods in (which I never used, hmph), Hammer electrolyte capsules, 5 gels, and some jelly beans)), sunglasses (which came in handy!), and orange arm sleeves! That was a big debate but at outfit decision time, the weather was supposed to get cooler, it was going to rain, and be windy... and I didn't mind them during Boston marathon with similar conditions AND was happy overall with the outfit at the end.
Alarm: 3:20am
Breakfast of champions at 4am - gluten free rolled oats with water, chia seeds, almond butter, cranberries soaked overnight. Yes, I brought all of this although the hotel was super kind and had a 3:30am breakfast for us... just would rather be safe than sorry and had my own little routine.
4:30am: Meet fellow DCS in hotel lobby where we arranged a shuttle from the hotel to take us to the start area
5:00am: Eat a banana
5:00-6:30am: Go to the toilet a couple of times, try and hide from the rain, go to our corale (for me it was corale C (it got up to E. So 2O is gun time, so although the timing starts when the gun goes off, NOT when you cross the mat. A corale C placement is a marathon under 4 hours). Fortunately, Corale C was not too far behind from the start, I think just a couple of minutes). Tried to stay hydrated but not too much as then would have to go to pee. Could have done better with moving around instead of standing around and chit-chatting, but we were all doing that! So... there was a lot of standing around.
6:25-6:30am: Up till that point, I was feeling oddly relaxed. What to do now at that point? Excited yet nervous. Then they had a moment of silence for a race director that was called "Mr. Two Oceans" as he had sadly passed a month back. That kind of saddened the mood a bit. Then they did a traditional African song that picked up my emotions a bit and by the time they did the South African national anthem, I had to take a few deep breaths to hold back a bit from being teary! It's an emotional experience!!! THIS IS IT!!
6:30am: GUN GOES OFF, RACE BEGINS!!!!!

The run:
How to summarize it? Well, all these running Ultra things I had read said to make a plan and/or race strategy. As with the marathon, mine was to break it up in parts. It kind of varied a bit, but what I did is every 15km'ish, took a Hammer Endurolyte capsule to help (psychologically!) "prevent" muscle cramping. I would rather have a capsule (that has magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnase, and some other random electrolytes).Then was planning on taking a GU Roctane gel every 10km around 1/2 marathon marker. Basically it came out to doing something, no matter how minuscule, approx every 5-8-10 km, on top of 1/2 marathon point, full marathon point, etc. Little rewards to myself.

As you see, am fairly relaxed with my "hands up" waving approach! And the above pics were taken at different points of the course, but still smiling in all!

Nutrition/fluid intake: DRINK TO THIRST! I didn't want to be water logged and suffer from hyponatremia (too little sodium in the body). They had little sashay's of water practically every 3km'ish so sometimes just took a sip to wet my whistle as they say, and others planning it when I had a gel or something and drank the whole thing.
GU's/Gels: I think I took 4 total? Wanted to be proactive, so although felt fine at 21km, took one then, then at around 32km'ish, just after a hill, then after the marathon marker, 42km) then at 50km. Also just to prevent boredom, twice took a couple of jelly beans.... easy to chew and swallow while running and... just another "treat" to myself after reaching a point in the race.
Food: Had a 1/2 banana at 32km (in the tunnel at Chapman's Peak) and then a BarOne at 45.5km (which was a bit much and hardly could chew it all while running, ha ha. AND it came just with a hill so was also breathing hard from that!).
Pacing: Ahh... now the fun begins. Well, as had NO idea how this would go, considering my marathon time and how I run, it would be reasonable to expect and want to do around 5:30 (5 hours and 30 min). If I had a super dooper crazy awesome day, it could be 5:15, if I had an "meh" day or "off" day, was fairly confident I could do under 6 hours. So one of my awesome running buddies who ran it last year gave me this AMAZING chart that took into consideration the route and the 'top heavy' course (meaning that the 1st half was fairly easy, the 2nd half and more so after the 42km mark is when the race starts):

5:30 pacing strategy
Km  -     Avg pace - Time
5km -     5:34  -        27:51
10km -   5:22  -       54:39
15km -   5:25 -        1:21:46
20km -    5:29 -       1:49:10
21.1km - 5:32 -       1:55:19
25km -    5:54-        2:18:14
30km -    6:25 -       2:50:21
35km -    6:25-        3:22:28
40km-     5:50-        3:51:39
42.2km-  5:34-        4:03:54
45km -    6:25-        4:21:53
50km-     6:25-        4:54:00
56km-     6:00-        5:30km

Another strategy: Times your marathon time by 1:437 to get your overall goal time and then divide that by 56km to get your average pace. Basically, it was said that for the 1st 30km or so, your pace should be 10 seconds slower than your marathon pace, and then it obviously gets slower with the top heavy hills.

Actual splits: 
Start: 2:53 (meaning I was 2:53 off from the start line)
Split 1 (28km): 2:37:07
Split 2 at marathon (42,2 km): 4:00:39
Split 3 (50km): 4:52:10
FINAL: 5:27:19!!!!!
Avg pace: 5:48 km/min

The key for me was to remember the overall time and more or less splits (I just thought around 5:30 avg pace) at the beginning as EVERYONE had warned us to NOT take it out too fast. Fortunately it takes me a loooooooong time to warm up so REALLY forced myself to slow down and keep that average pace, at least till the 1/2 marathon marker. Then really didn't look too much at my Garmin, BUT at the marathon marker when I saw I was at exactly 4 hours, it was a bit of a confidence booster as was totally on target for a 5:30pace. And as someone else said, at that point, even if I walked, I could get under 6 hours. But then again, if you are so close to your goal of 5:30, why not?

Hills:
The first 30km, more or less, are fairly flat. A smidge of inclines and declines here and there, but nothing even noticeable. So here I just enjoyed the people, the atmosphere, the FRESH air, felt fairly relaxed. THEN comes Chapman's Peak, MANY people talk, talk, talk about this as it is the first big hill, but for me, I REALLY enjoyed it! Felt super comfortable and strong on the hill and ran the whole way. As our legs are fairly still "fresh" at that point, most people seemed to run it. Befriended a runner that had run 13 of these (it's super cool how they write down the number of 2O ultras you have done and also which decade age wise you are in... that's another topic later!) and chatted with him a bit and he gave me little tips on the upcoming looong downhill and to "save the legs, don't go crazy there." Soo, Chapman's Peak has a gorgeous view and loved it! Then comes the downhill... it really was never ending. Although was trying to stay relaxed and be "light" on my feet, it really felt never ending and I was anxious for an uphill (even though that sounds crazy). I definitely could then feel my legs a bit more after that, but more or less still okay. After that is some mini hills, then as was forewarned, Constantia's neck after the marathon marker is when the race begins, this BIG o steep hill. Just before then I was starting to get a wee bit of a cramp on my left side under my rib and was trying to run and stretch it out, but then when the hill came and I saw sooooooooooooo many people walking around me, I thought, "I'm no hero, let me walk this and work out the cramp." Brilliant idea as kind of enjoyed the walk AND worked out the cramp. Didn't feel guilty about it whatsoever that I "should" be running as probably wouldn't go that much faster anyway! I think there was one more sharp'ish incline a couple of km after that that I walked, but mostly ran.

Camber's (slopes on the course):
Again, although had been warned about this, didn't realize how "bad" it really was. There were some parts of the course, even early on, that had camber's, I actually tried running in the middle to keep things even and then had quite a conundrum on which camber side to run on, the one that sloped down (or up) on the left or right. Have my recent sciatica and leg issue on the left, but my right is weaker. I guess favored the right a bit more, but it was tough to navigate, especially those last 10km AND at km marker 48 and 49km as the camber's were quite steep. I guess I can summarize as:
1st 1/3 of the race - ran in the middle (gentle camber's)
2nd 3rd of the race - ran a bit in these gutter-like things and on the side that looked less slopey (prob lost a lot of time going back and forth on times)
Last 3rd of race - when I could I ran off to the road a bit on gravel (near gutter), but I guess stayed on one side.

Also to note: Cat eyes in the middle of the lanes, they are those reflection things you see at night to divide the lanes. Quite big and unfortunately, saw many people fall over them :-(

Niggles/Dissociation: Although started off a bit stiff, especially on the left leg, nothing new there, it loosened up and generally felt fairly good the whole run... of course legs getting tired, but nothing unusual for running that distance. The last 10km started to get niggles, like twinges, in my peroneals (outside of my legs), more my right than my left, and this is because of those darn camber's. So with my new approach to cramps and niggles being disassociation, I told myself to relax and kind of wiggled my foot around and tried to NOT have my gait change (as I felt it was doing, especially those last km downhill, plop plop plop), and tried to focus on ANYTHING but these potential cramps (which felt 110% different than my Dubai marathon cramps, just felt ... twingy). Then did a tactic that my swimming friend does when he swims loooong swims, sings mundane songs in his head which he told me was "99 bottles of beer on the wall." Hahhaha. So I seriously did that! Was playing around with numbers and as soon as felt a twinge, 'sang' louder in my head. It actually worked! Thank gawd!

Last 10-15km: Again, when the race starts! First you get hit by the Constantia Neck and that BIG o hill, then it's the camber's, THEN it's just a lot of up and down... literally, there is even a mini hill at the 53-55km mark, really? Ran all this and it goes through this little forest area, so although a bit humid, was okay. So my Garmin initially was almost spot on with their markers, but then it was waaaay off. So the last couple of km are quite weavy and with these mini hills, that seem like BIG hills when you are tired, just kept coming! So I was totally unsure of where or when the finish was as couldn't see the finish line. Then we were still on the street and my watch was saying .5km to go and then I see the 55km marker, "what?" But then it seemed like .2 seconds later we enter the stadium and the crowds are there and we run on a grassy surface (which actually made me nervous) and then plodded my way to the finish and saw 5:27 on the big o clock and was soo happy! I wasn't even looking at my watch at that point, had stopped probably after the marathon marker, although during those last 15km I did hear people talking about how they were on course for 5:30, so just stuck to that! Funny as it sounds, felt MUCH better than after a marathon! I think it's just running overall at a slower pace, being relaxed, and NOT racing it. HURRAAAHHH!!!

Actual weather:  The weather ended up being.... Cape Town weather, ever changing! Started off with some light rains (lining up and then starting). Then it became misty and humid for the first 10-15km. Then it was cloudy and got humid. Then it got sunny and dry, then cloudy, then pockets of kind of strong winds. Then sunny'ish. Then humid. When I was finishing it was getting more cloudy and a bit more windy. So it is NOT a lie when they say that Cape Town typically has 4 seasons in a day!!!!

Inspiration: What I found most inspiring about this Ultra run was the people. You really see all sorts of shapes and sizes. Everyone has a story, everyone has committed to this. BUT was even more inspiring is.... AGE! Yes! So on the bib numbers, under 40 years old had nothing, then there was a "40" if you were in that decade, 50, and 60. I was SHOCKED to observe that it seemed 70% and more were over 40 years old. Then I realized from my group of 15+ that ran this, I was literally the "youngest!" There was a LOT of 60 year old that had more than 20 or so Ultras ... and were running it then and there. Amazing!! The bibs had that decade year and also how many times you have done the Ultra. Soooo inspiring! Really, "if THEY can do it, really, you can do it" was what I was saying to myself. AND everyone was soo friendly, people were chatting to me, encouraged me "Looking strong Dubai" has had my Dubai shirt on. Soooo nice! From runners themselves AND spectators!


After I finished I saw this long line and found out it was the line to get our bags, booo! It was horrible! The line was foooooooooooooooooorever long and I literally had just finished, got my awesome medal, grabbed some water and a banana, and then 100 m later was in this line just standing forever! Fortunately made friends in the line and shared experiences about the run and ran into people I knew. I felt sooo happy!!! Ran into a friend that said finishing was super emotional for her and she couldn't stop crying. Really? She was actually jealous of me I was so happy and relaxed. I guess I felt like that after Boston, it's just an overwhelming experience Boston, but this one I just felt soo comfortable and honestly REALLY enjoyed it! So was smiling and happy! HOURS later (okay, probably 30-45 min), went to the International Tent where all my friends were there OR coming and it was such a FUN atmosphere congratulating each other, again sharing stories, and just being HAPPY it was done with!! WE DID IT!! WE ARE ULTRA RUNNERS!!!!!!!!!!!

Body and legs? Felt... okay! Of course stiff and achy, but 203948230948230948239048239 times better than a marathon as NOT overusing the same muscles over and over and over again, running hills is just amazing!!! Didn't feel any localized aches and pains, just general normal stiffness. Woo hooo!! So not only finished comfortably and relaxed, but also injury free! YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!! Could I have pushed it more as I was so relaxed? Yes, but why? What would be the difference in say 5:27 and 5:20? Glory rights? The key is I did it and the BIG hallmarks are say sub 5 hours or sub 6 hours. Being that I was smack in the middle, felt NO need or desire to kill myself so that's why I maintained a comfy and steady pace.

Da da dum, you can do 1 Ultra or 230948230948230948, so... I did ONE but am officially an ULTRA RUNNER!!!!! Despite some setbacks, definitely some lulls in training ("Is this EVER going to end? Am feeling tired of running"), and sacrificing on social life, it was all worth it and am proud of myself. It's one of those accomplishments where I was the one who ran, I did it. No one else! Yes, had lots of guidance and support, which I am immensely grateful for, but it was my legs and my brain (for the mental strength) that got me through it. The mental part is HUGE!!! Can't even say enough how important that is. If you give up mentally, you are done. No matter how hard you train. I think with these races that are new to me, new environment, people to watch, things to see, I thrive in that environment. I really do! I used that energy to carry me along. I was so relaxed during the run, was chatting with people, was looking at the beautiful scenery, and most especially was taking deep breaths of the magical CLEAN and CRISP and FRESH air! It sounds sooo stupid to go on and on and on about things like fresh air, but it REALLY invigorates me... especially after being in Dubai where that doesn't exist.

Overall, again, REALLY enjoyed it! It's a TOTALLY different race strategy than marathon running which is race strategy. Again, here was just totally relaxed and casual, enjoying the atmosphere, talking to people, listening on other conversations, sometimes joining others (S. Africans  are SUPER friendly!), high-fiving spectators, just having fun! I know it's crazy to imagine having fun or enjoying an ultra marathon, but that is the mental part, and it's so so important! Although was worried my confidence because lost my game a bit with my ailments, thankfully the week before my confidence went up with feeling better (physically), focused on positive energy, and this re-charged my running mojo and had game face on for SMASHING IT (that's our group's motto for this year's run!) for the run.

I DID  IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM AN ULTRA RUNNER!

WOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Two Oceans 56km - Part 1/3: Training!

WARNING: THE NEXT 3 BLOGS ARE SOLELY GOING TO BE ABOUT THE TWO OCEANS 56KM WITH INCESSANT DETAILS AND SCRUTINY! THIS WILL BE A GREAT REMINDER AND REFERENCE TO ME, BUT WILL BE UNGODLY BORING TO ANYONE ELSE! TEXT SUPER BORING and ONLY about running, training, and more running and training! You've been warned! :-) 


Dubai is a funny place, there are so many things I have done here (nothing bad!) that I wouldn't do at home. Many people say it is a competitive environment full of Type A people. On one hand, one can take that as a positive, you always want to strive to do more because... well, everyone else is doing more! So you unintentionally or intentionally start to have more ambitions. For example, when I first came here and joined my running group, it was just to have a group to run with and a place to meet people. I remember being amazed at everyone's running backgrounds, dozens of marathons, ultras, trail runs, all these extreme things. I was a nobody with my measly 4 marathons at that point, 2 1/2 ironman's, and dozens of 1/2 marathons. So although I NEVER intended of EVER running a marathon when I "retired" in 2003, what do you know? Now I've already done 4 while I've been here! Then along comes the topic of ultra running, an "ultra" marathon is pretty much anything over a marathon, so anything over 42 km or 26 miles. Again, one of those things I ADAMANTLY said I would "NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER" do. Through these last years, many (MANY) people from my group have done this so called "AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL and SUPER FUN" Ultra marathon called Two Oceans in Cape Town, S. Africa. "Bah!" I thought. I've already been there and I like to travel to new places. And also the marathon training is so intense I couldn't ever have imagined doing more. Then you get those comments such as, "It's not really worse than a marathon, you hardly feel it," "the training isn't THAT much different than the marathon," "If you did Dubai marathon and keep good fitness, it's just doing some longer runs." Like doing a longer walk in the park. Well, last summer I had a twinge of interest. I think when the group came back and everyone was sooo incredibly positive about it, I thought, "hmm... maybe it is time for a new challenge?" Well, long story short, one friend convinced another, and the next thing I knew pretty much all my BFF's here were doing it, and I get roped in. So of course having so many people doing it makes it exciting and fun, all to have something to work towards together. So there you have it, group pressure wins again! We even created a WhatsApp "Two Oceans" group to share training tips... and of course our woes of niggles and injuries and on the contrary, over indulgences sometimes ("I ate too much last night, how much do I have to run to burn it off?" hahah).

But here we are, I have ever imagined I would do something like this!

Soo, more boring details to come in subsequent blogs, but this one I want to designate to my training as.... darn it, although there were definitely highs and lows for this thing, as my running friends have already warned me, the lows will quickly disappear from memory (darn it, why does that happen!!!) and only the high's remain and next thing you know, we'll all be signing up for the next one. Noooooooooooo!!! Soo, as again I am ADAMANTLY saying "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO way" to another one, in any case, I would like to remind myself as to my training program and can always use this as a reference for any other suckers that want to do this. Haha.

Okay, so I'm living in Dubai.... about to do one of the known hilliest ultra's. What to do? Do the best you can! To summarize lots of time reading all this ultra training stuff, key to ultra training is:

• Running on tired legs, so running back to back runs (back to back long runs or things like one evening and the next morning, etc)
• Up'ing your longer weekly runs compared to a marathon (minimum short run to be 12km and get up to 18km for longest week run)
• Higher weekly mileage, so getting at least a couple of 100km weeks
• Hill training the best you can! Even if it includes parking lot ramps and bridges
• Stair climbing - you don't hear about this that often, and this is my personal recommendation, but I thought it REALLY REALLY REALLY helped. I ALWAYS feel super strong on uphill and I contribute a lot to those hours in the stairwell or on the stair climber!  

Weekly exercise/training routine (more or less):
Sundays: Garhoud bridges tempo (it's this long bridge we have that some some short "steep" hills and then some longer ones. I built up from 8km to 10km to 13km to a few peak weeks at 15km and then back down to 10km during taper time. Then did an hour of stairwell climbing in a 80 flour building by me and then did personal training for an hour.
Mondays: Dubai Masters Swim Club hour swim
Tuesdays: LSD run (long slow distance) BUT with some surges. Built up from 15km to 18km. Then did an hour of stair climber machine in my gym and then strength work.
Wednesdays: 8km to 10km to 12km (peak weeks) of interval training.
Thursdays: Hot bikram yoga HBY for 90 min or off day
Fridays: Loooooooong run, got well into the 30km's for awhile and even went up to 47km! Then did 90 minutes HBY
Saturdays: Off day or when I was in peak training, did another 20km'ish run

Weekly averages: 
8 weeks to go: 17km (week after the Dubai marathon)
7 weeks to go: 65km
6 weeks to go: 53 km (week of RAK 1/2 marathon)
5 weeks to go: 86km
4 weeks to go: 100km* (evening run followed by morning run)
3 weeks to go: 105km* (Long morning run and next day comparably long run in Hatta for the hills)
2 weeks to go: 70km (week of Hatta Hills 1/2 marathon)
1 week to go: 52km

*PEAK weeks: So I usually run 4 times a week, but those weeks I ran 5 times a week. 4 weeks out did a Thursday night 21 km run and then Friday morning did 34km. 3 weeks out did 35km on Friday morning and then did 25km Saturday morning (in Hatta).

Unlike many others, I did not do a training program, I kinda followed along with others and tweaked it to how it worked with my schedule. For example, even with the marathon training have somehow become an early bird, so all my weekly running was at 5am, which meant A LOT of 4 something a.m. wake-ups (sadly, got used to it), which meant MANY early night sleeps, literally before 10am, which sometimes was tough because have 2 late-shifts at work a week so get home at 8:30pm and the other night have swimming and get home at 9pm, so a quick turn-over before bed-time! As many who are training for things like ultras, some things have to give. I didn't want to give up my other cross training activities, obviously didn't want to give up on my masters program studies, so next up was social life. So that was a bit of a damper, but probably better as can hardly stay up past 10pm anyway! Hahah.

I won't lie and say that ALL my training was easy breezy. It was literally the start of the peak weeks when ... let's just say had a bit of a setback with some sacrum, pelvis, and low back issues. Alas, all got sorted, thank gawd am in the profession, and although wasn't 100% for the Ultra, which was tough mentally as am not used to going into races not feeling completely awesome, but it is what it is.

Hmmm..... any other boring details I want to share with myself? Would I change anything in the training? I really don't think I would, I really did the best I could for the time that I had and just logistics. I am super glad that I did that Hatta hills practice run and then the week later did that 1/2 marathon.... not a lot compared to what others may suggest or recommend, but it worked for me! Also, I mostly did yoga once a week, but a few times did it twice a week which I believe really "saves" me, feels amazing and love the stretching I am normally so bad at. Also swimming, wish I could have squeezed in more swimming, but no time!!!

Next up, blog Two Oceans 2/3 -  race weekend!!!

When it Rains it Pours (yes, in Dubai!)

Well, well, well, lo and behold I have a few minutes to update my life a bit. It has been a crazy whirlwind and am literally astounded it is already March. Where did the time go? When it rains it pours is both being used figuratively as it has been soo crazy lately and also literally as we had a big o rainfall here last week!

Que pasa ('whats up' in Spanish)? In a nutshell, no surprise, the usual bor-ing training/running talk, hehe, but also some other fun and random stuff.

Here we go:

RAK 1/2 marathon:
I will spare the usual details, but the story is kind of funny. So last year I had this horrible race at RAK 1/2 marathon (Ras Al Kaimah, or RAK, is another Emirate here). I distinctly remember 3km into the race, I just wanted to stop... out of sheer boredom (no joke) and just NOT wanting to do it. So of course when you're not in the mood and just going through the motions, it shows. I suffered more mentally which reflected on me physically and just had an overall crappy race. So really, the WHOLE YEAR I talked about how much I hated the race and "NO WAY" would I do it again. Well, along comes the Dubai marathon where I didn't meet my expectations and that night going out to dinner with some runner friends and somehow one friend kept on talking about it and at that point in time I felt the need for a wee bit of redemption, BUT more so because of the drama with my calf cramping, wanted to test my shoes and basically racing and pacing. So somehow I became totally obsessed with WANTING to do the race (I think I'm becoming bipolar) and as the registration was closed, managed to get an injured friends bib (Shhhhhh....), so it was best of both worlds, her bib got put to use and I could run chipless, meaning NO pressure of time! So after my post marathon 1-week binge eating and pigging out (hmm... yes, was a bit of a fun, BUT major shock to the 'ol system and couldn't sleep often because of the revolution in my stomach from this shock!), got back to the swing of things and as the race was 3-weeks out from the marathon, felt pretty ready and rested for it. Beauty of the run is that I honestly was just going to run it with NO pressure and with no time in mind. So of course with that free spirit, I felt good at the beginning and no joke, from the first step to the last, really Really REALLY enjoyed it! Honestly had fun, was waving to all my fellow Striders and LOVED it!!! Best yet, had an AMAZING run as far as pace:
1st 5km; 25:20
2nd 5km: 24:54
3rd 5km: 24:54
4th 5km: 24:34
Final: 1:45:00 - per my Garmin watch as (shhhh) it wasn't official.
Hellooo? Can one ask for a better race? It was a NEGATIVE split, which is any runner's dream AND best yet, felt fab at the end and had enough energy to pick it up (which usually am spent by then and just getting through). I was soooooooooooooooooooooo HAPPY and on such a buzz after that! FINALLY got my mojo back! Funny enough, it is close to one of my better 1/2 times, BUT ALL my runner friends are surprised at that time thinking I should be going MUCH faster, like around 1:40. Helloooo #2, I think out of the 20+ 1/2 marathons I've done in my running career, 80% have been around 1:48 (no joke), so this was great for me and couldn't they just let me enjoy a time that is good for me? Although fine, I guess I need to work on improving that. Maybe next season. Anyhoo, had this TOTAL peak of mojo and "runners high" that whole next week, felt amazing! I forgot about 1/2 marathons and how you can just run it and feel great the next day, unlike marathons when you are hurting for a week if not more.

Two Oceans Training
Ahhh.... now here is my new 2nd job. Feels like it! So just after RAK started "peak" training for my good 'ol 56 km run (35 miles) in Cape Town, S. Africa end of March (Easter weekend). That entails 1x15km run (which I am doing at Garhoud bridges), 1 x 18km run, and 1x 12km run intervals/tempo... then the long arse weekend runs. So one weekend did 46km as a training run (my longest distance ever!), another weekend did back to back runs, meaning Thursday night and Friday morning (21km Thurs night and 34km Friday morning) and another weekend did 35km in the morning and 25km Hatta Hills (basically, we have to drive over an hour to get to some hills!). I kicked off my first 100km week last week (woo hoooo!) and think I will get close if not reach it this weekend. Then besides that is my usual 1-2x/weekly swimming, 1-2x./weekly yoga, 2x stair climbing, 2x strength training, etc etc. Really life has turned into total sport! Have to admit last week felt a mentally burned out and physically tired, which I guess is normal at this time. Finally got my mojo back just recently, but phew, really feels like a full time job on top of a full time job I already have! I know it will ALL be worth it, just need to keep my mental and physical edge up :-)

Also got to train with some VVIP's of the running community, these super dooper runners, including one that is sponsored and is favored to place in the Two Oceans! Excitement! Also that she is super nice. Funny thing is all these runners I did one Hatta trip with, just to get some hills in, all wore my new fave shoes, Hoka's!!!

ATP Tennis!! Unleash the Power (that is the motto for this year)!!
Well, for the 4th year in a row, my company got contracted with ATP Dubai Tennis!!! So funny how even that has changed through the years. The first year I was beside myself with nerves and anxiety. Hardly remember it because was just starstruck and in awe of everything. 2nd year was a smidge better, but fairly similar. The 3rd year was MUCH better and was soo comfy and relaxed and luckily many of the players recognized me and it was very comfy. Then for some reason this year.... sounds blase, but really was like "meh" (gasp!). REALLY was not into it as much as before because just focused on this darn training. Enough so that I purposely scheduled myself at the end of the tournament just to NOT be there that often and to focus on my training (gasp again). Although we have VIP passes to get into the WTA woman's matches, I TOTALLY was not bothered whatsoever (no offense to the woman). Then days passed with the men's and it wasn't until Tuesday when I stopped in to at least attend the Player's Party, which was more to get a good meal as the food there is delicious (am in a seafood/sushi/Asian fix these days). Federer wasn't at the tournament because of a knee surgery and Novak had an eye problem so although he came later that night (missed him as was too tired and went home), Rada and Dejan got pics with him (yay them!). Anyhoo, came the next day and again was just kind of here and there and everywhere and not as excited. Finally my work shift was on that weekend and after hands on working with what ended up being the Finals players (Stan Wawrinka and Marcus Baghdadis) and having the amazing experience of literally being 1-1 with them, working on them, and as they are both super friendly, TALKING to them, then FINALLY I thought, "wow! This is a once in a lifetime experience!" And got my excitement back! I literally chatted with Marcus for more than an hour about everything from nutrition to exercise to Cyprus to America to Balkans (his wife is Croatian) and he is sooo soooooo soooooooooooooooo friendly, it was almost like talking to any of my friends/patients. Didn't feel shy or guarded as with other players because he is just sooooo friendly and an amazingly friendly guy. So the next day when they competed against each other, which ended up being a FAB and exciting game, I was secretly rooting for the underdog Marcus as felt we were BFF's (hahah). Sooo fun!!!! Of course though was totally sleep deprived, diet went out the window, and felt that slump with training and just got overall tired. But onwards and upwards!!!

Anyhoo, below are pics from ATP Players party, as you see, my Serbian friends Rada and Dejan benefited from staying later than I did!!! lol. And also in the VIP training room, which was just me and the stars (okay, the ATP physio as well, he he)

Me and Stan the Man, Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 Dubai ATP Winner!!!

Me and runner-up to the 2016 ATP finals, Marcus Baghdadis, from Cyprus! 

Random Other Stuff:
The morning of my mega day working at ATP, also did a 3 Emirates Run, which was a great change of scenery as we ran through Dubai, Fujerah, and Ajman.... 34km (hence the exhaustion then heavy work working on these players and staying up late after getting up at 4am something and running that back to back run. Alas, survived!

Leading the pack! hahah

Hatta Hills 1/2 marathon:
Purely ran this as a training run, hence did one of my ever slower times. Made a plan to go sub 2 hours, and squeaked in at 1:56.... haha. Almost all my running buddies passed me, but meh, wasn't bothered by it! There were some SUPER steep inclines/declines, actually just 2, but good mental note of "when it is 25% gradient, it's okay to walk," hahah.  So really good to practice! And of course a bunch of pals from my running group ran it, so always a nice atmosphere.

Co-workers wedding/bday!
The bday was a week before, but the wedding just happened to be the evening before the Hatta Hills 1/2 marathon, which shows the seriousness of my attitude towards it, ha ha. It was super fun to get all dressed up and hang out with my co-workers in a non-work setting. As you can see, the "theme" was blue!!!!

And our work bday celebrations for her:

Rain!!

Well, the last thing you EVER hear about in Dubai is rain. Well, last week we had quite an exciting event with a huge rain storm. The night before I hard on the radio that with anticipated rain, they closed all the schools in Abu Dhabi. Dubai at the time (morning) was a bit grey, but okay. Made it to work and then ... wow, a true rainfall! So as Dubai has NO drainage system, the first thing that we all heard about was the flooding.... and more flooding. So one by one, most of our patients were cancelling and it was like party time at work. We NEVER have time to just sit around and chat, but here we were all hanging out and just having fun and watch our schedules lighten and lighten. Haha. Fortunately, my last patient gave me this awesome new route to avoid the chaos at one of our big roads here, and left early from work... and got home in like 10 min! It was true bliss!!!!! I was almost beside myself with what to do... as had too much to do and didn't even know where to start. Having those extra couple of hours extra is just magical!!! Truly had THE BEST day that day! So relaxed, so fun, and best of all, so entertaining with all the excitement of the big o rainfall. Well, not all entertaining as sadly, many people's homes got ruined and there were some casualties. So not all fun and games! They closed the schools the next day as it was expected to have MORE rain and many companies gave their employees the day off. I was off anyway, but of course as luck would have it, it was again a beautiful sunny day in Dubai! Anyhoo, it was quite big news and hit international media as well with a bit of the extreme scenes. 

Hmm... that's all that I can remember! Other little things, but nothing to dawdle about! Now ALL attention is on a proper taper, the run is 2 weeks away, and then..... wooooooooooo hooooooooooo!!! Time for a little bit of R&R!!!!!