Final Preparations For London!

The World Triathlon Grand Final is just a couple of weeks away! I have one more full on training week before I cut down on my workouts. I have done a dry run of a triathlon this week, testing equipment, nutrition, race strategy, etc. and seeing how far I am from my goals. The main conclusion was that I was almost on track in terms of times, but I'm not completely satisfied. There is still a lot more work to do. I'm detailing here how I'm getting ready for my big race, as well as my training plans post 15 September.

To be honest, I didn't expect any fireworks in my solo training triathlon. After all, I haven't been training properly all throughout the month of July, since it was the fasting month of Ramadan, which meant that I wasn't eating or drinking between 3am and 9pm for the whole month. This left me with very limited time to train, as well as limited training that I could do as well, due to nutrition considerations. I tried to do as much as I could, but of course it was never going to be enough.

I got back into training by mid August, so I have only had 2 full weeks of proper training. During this time, I did the monthly 5km race at my running club, and of course the time wasn't that impressive (21:33). In addition to not having trained for a whole month, I was also very tired from the volume of training I have been doing once I got back into training, so a very messy combination. It was good, though, just to get an idea about where I was at the time.

In general, the times for 2013 haven't really been my main focus. If you have been following my blog for a while, I have dedicated this year to getting my training, nutrition, gear race experience, and my whole life balance to a comfortable place so that I can focus my efforts more specifically to improving for 2014 and beyond. And, so far so good. I have made major adjustments to every single aspect in my life over the past 9-12 months, and I am hoping that this is it for a while, and I can now start my next steps in my grand plan.

Back to the preparations, I have made use of a deal that Blueseventy had on wetsuits and just ordered their Helix suit, which is supposed to be their top of the line one, replacing my old Orca S4. I am still to receive it though, and I hope I'll have the chance to try it out before the race. Staying with outfits, I'm excited to finally be racing in the Egyptian colours! With the great efforts of an Egyptian triathlete based in Australia, all Egyptians participating in the races in London will have a cool tri suit. So, this is another change, where my tri suit is now changing from the Orca RS1 HydroKilla to Champion System Apex Elite.

My training post 15 September will start with 2 weeks of very light training, to then start my main training for 2014. The bike is still my weakest discipline, followed by the run, with the swim the least of my worries, at least for now. So, my initial training blocks will focus mainly on getting stronger on the bike and faster in the run, while not forgetting improving my swim, of course. My main objective is to, hopefully, get as close as possible to a total time of 2:15 by February/March 2014. This means that I roughly need to get my swim down to 20 minutes, My bike down to 70 minutes, and my run to be comfortably below 40 minutes.

The one aspect that I haven't yet got to sort out, though, is sponsorship. I have tried a little bit in the past couple of months to source some sponsorship for 2014, but I shall, hopefully, seek it more proactively once I'm done with my race in a couple of weeks. I am now hoping that I can source some funding for race travel and accommodation for the year, as most of my gear is now sorted (apart from a bike upgrade). We'll see how it goes.

I am extremely excited about meeting all the Egyptians who will be coming over to London to participate in the race! I have been in touch with a few of them, and even met some. The idea that there are now 28 Egyptians in total who will be racing in the Grand Final is just amazing! A few years ago, none of my Egyptian friends even knew about triathlons. Even when it became a bit known, participation hasn't been that much, with only 3 or 4 Egyptians randomly participating in races here and there. The Grand Final last year, which was in New Zealand, had one Egyptian, who happened to live in Australia. I was the only Egyptian at the WTS race in Madrid in June. And, although all of us participating this year are amateurs, to say the least, it is a fantastic start, which I hope to see spread even more to other Middle Eastern countries as well.

One last thing. If you are in London on the 15th of September 2013, come over to Hyde Park and spend the day cheering on people running around in lycra! :) And, of course, let me know so that we can catch up after the race.

Wish us all luck!