http://www.dubai-road-runners.com/weeklynews.html

Weekly News Letter

Last updated 18th February 2012

RAK half marathon.

Race Report

I'll probably never get the opportunity to do this again, so here is a sample of yesterday's results.

Graham Rafferty:    1:46:33

Steve Norton:    1:48:46

Steve Grigg:    1:50:58

Rob McLaughlin:    2:13:31

Adrian Hayes:    DNF

Terry Hislop:    DNF

Clearly, apart from myself, the rest of those named ran into problems. But it was nice to at least record one win over them.

As for me, I'm struggling to work out what went right. On a blustery day when almost every one else was minutes slower than in the DCS half in December I recorded my best half marathon time since 2006. It could have been faster, but rather stupidly I'd drunk 2 pints of beer and a glass of red wine the night before. I should have known better. It should be 2 glasses of red wine with 2 pints of beer.

Joking aside, I  really don't know why I performed so well. Training over the last 12 weeks has been hit heavily by calf muscle injuries. In January I was running just once a week leading up to the marathon (Which I dropped out of at 25Km). Since the marathon I have done 3 weeks of full training. Hardly enough to make a difference.

So I was not expecting to do much better at RAK than my time from 2 years ago, 2:01:03, when I was also recovering from a calf muscle injury. I set off at what seemed a comfortable pace, 5:15 / km. Each successive 5k in increased pace, running the last 6k in under 5min / km. 

Duncan Ross, 1:40:07 was one of the few to get a pb, having improved on his DCS time of 1:42:56.  Anne Bester, 1:46:42, getting back to form after having a baby in the summer, improved by 6 minutes on her time in the DCS half. Robert Lambe, 2:11:13, took 2 minutes off his pb Kieran Gibson 1:43:30 did very well on his first half marathon. 

A lot of runners were very disappointed with their performances and disillusioned after the event. Just forget it and come back to intervals on Tuesday. It was just a bad day. 

Not everyone had a disappointment. A number of Dubai runners found themselves in the prizes in the UAE residence category. Jane Khan, 1:23:49 and Sonja Ellmann 1:25:41 were 2nd and 3rd open female. Debbie Powell, 1:29:43 was 2nd Female 40+. Getinet Chala,  1:14:41 and Ben Walton, 1:18:07 were 2nd and 3rd open male. Neil Tait, 1:20:09 was 3rd Male 40+ Charlie McFeely 1:29:54 was 2nd Junior male. 

Event Organisation

Plenty of parking within 5 minutes walk of the start.  Ample toilet facilities adjacent to the start and no queues! Athletes village with showers, bag drop and certificate printing ... all adjacent to the start. Plenty of room at the finish for runners to congregate and greet fellow runners as they finished. Plenty of drinks and refreshments at the finish. Plenty of well manned drinks stations on the course. Inflated arches marking each km. Split times at each 5km. 

As always with this event, Nathan and his team think of you, the runner, first. He even allocated free entries to the clubs to be used for runners on low incomes. 

The windy conditions were beyond the organisers control. But don't let that put you off. This event deserves our support in the same way as it supports the running community of the UAE. Many thanks Nathan. 

Predictor times. 

A lot of tired runners tonight following yesterday's half marathon. PBs over two laps for Zoe Turner, 36:51 and Sumeet., 32:17.

Over one lap Brad Doherty, 15:43 and son Brayden, 20:33 both got pbs.

Don't forget to enter the Creek relay. Event takes place next Friday starting at 7:00 pm. This is a more relaxing event following the intensity of yesterday's RAK half marathon. Entries close on Wednesday. 

For predictor times go to: (May be a little delayed as Host is down)

http://www.dubai-road-runners.com/predictortimes.html

Club kit

We are about to place a big order for kit which will include the complete range of sizes. We are delighted to thank Jameel's company, Blue Axis Shipping, for agreeing to underwrite the cost of the order until we recuperate the outlay. 

Long Interval Training Sunday evenings 6:00pm at Al Barsha Park.

Targeting London Marathon and other spring marathons.. 

This weeks session. 

For complete session go to:

http://www.dubai-road-runners.com/marathontraining.html

Short Interval Training Tuesday evenings 6:00pm at Al Barsha Park.

For location map Click Here

Session for Tuesday 21st February

9 x 400m, 100m 1 min recovery

Break 5 minutes

6 x 400m, 100m 1 min recovery

Walk / jog the recovery. 

Take Target times and pace from chart below

These sessions are for all runners. Slower runners and beginners will benefit too because the sessions are geared to your pace. 

The aim of the sessions is to keep each runner within the aerobic / anaerobic threshold. 

Anaerobic exercise is related to the way your body generates energy for a sustained burst. It burns up energy resources fast and cannot be sustained for more than a couple of minutes.

Aerobic exercise  is burning up energy at a rate which can be sustained for endurance sports. 

The aim of interval training is to make sure that you stay within your own aerobic threshold. With time, the threshold should extend and you find that you can run faster within the aerobic threshold.

For other suggested training sessions go to:

http://www.dubai-road-runners.com/intervaltraining.html

Caution. Don't make sudden changes to your training and build up slowly with any new type of training. Train, don't strain.

Events 2011 / 2012

Creek Relay Friday 24th February.

Teams are required to register in advance. Team registration must be submitted

“on-line” via http://www.creekhash.net/Creek%20Relay/Creek%20Relay.htm or

directly to www.Premiermarathons.com  before the Tuesday prior to the event. Costs are

Dhs.440/- per team or Dhs.110 per solo runner and will include a vest for each

runner.

There are a great many sporting events this season. Below is a list of running events, primarily organised by the Running clubs in the Emirates. Events in Red are already open for entries. To enter and for a full list of events go to: http://www.premiermarathons.com/events_search_all.php