Hillary Biscay

11 March 10: The fun has begun!

Posted on 11. Mar, 2010 by hillarybiscay in Blog | 1 Comment

We are now in Abu Dhabi and the crazy pre-race time has begun! However, before traveling here yesterday afternoon, I got in a couple of days of solid training. This proved to be very fortuitous as here in Abu Dhabi, the race organizers are saying that cycling is “highly discouraged.” From what I hear, there simply isn’t much room on the roads here for bikes.

Trying to manage two big races two weeks apart is sort of an experiment for coach and I, as the timing is a bit more awkward than, say, racing two ironmans one week apart. There is a reason I’ve never raced ironmans with a two-week gap in between–and that is because I think it is quite difficult to strike a perfect balance between not doing too much work and doing too little in between the two. The Ironman Malaysia-Abu Dhabi Triathlon combination is our first experiment in tackling this challenge; we are hoping to  figure out a way to make it work, as I have three ironmans spaced out this way come August-September of this year.

Tuesday was awesome because my body and mind were so happy to get some real work done–and with great company! My friend Tara Norton (super cycling stud Canadian pro) and her hubbie drove all the way out from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain so that we could do a proper ride together. While we rode past camels, Bruce went to a camel market. Apparently, camel prices run about $2600 USD and up– in case you were wondering.

Happy Snapper joined us for part of the ride as well . . .

Tara and I had some quality catch-up time, which will be continued on another continent in May, when we meet up in Lanzarote . . . It seems like we have been in every corner of the world together over the past few years, including right at my home in Tucson. We always laugh looking back on this and thinking back to one of our very first pro races when, as strangers, we stood onstage at awards next to each other, having just sneaked into the money in 7th and 8th at Ironman Arizona 2005. There have been countless ironman adventures–good, ugly, and everything in between– together since then.

Speaking of reunions, we are having so much fun here in Abu Dhabi, even though we are sort of sequestered in a hotel (a very nice, brand-new one though!) out in the middle of nowhere, about 30 minutes from the race start. Most of the pros are staying here, so we’ve had lots of long meals at the hotel buffet, catching up with our friends who have come from all over the world for this big event. Last night Sam (McGlone) and I were having such an animated break-it-down on the latest goings-one back home that the GCM had to excuse himself to retire to bed, and when I finally got there, I couldn’t sleep. You would have thought it was the night before the race!

It is great to have so many friends here, but the hotel buffet is a little too good–we are glad we didn’t arrive sooner or you might have to roll us onto the startline!

Now it’s time for a little pre-race briefing and yep, eating again!

Tags: