Sand Shifter

Vintage posters with #marilyn #monroe at @andrewmartin_me

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:02:38 +0400

Vintage posters with #marilyn #monroe at @andrewmartin_me

Finally, great coffee in the DIFC.

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 09:06:31 +0400

Finally, great coffee in the DIFC.

at Hakkasan

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 19:37:06 +0400

at Hakkasan

@wjwat1

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:36:35 +0400

@wjwat1

No peppermint crisp, but still delicious. Horsham Grandma would...

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 04:29:15 +0400

No peppermint crisp, but still delicious.
Horsham Grandma would have approved.

Happy UAE National Day. Thanks for the best wishes, HH.

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 08:54:24 +0400

Happy UAE National Day.
Thanks for the best wishes, HH.

Birthday times! The second half of an amazing birthday present....

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 23:14:44 +0400

Birthday times!

The second half of an amazing birthday present. Better late than never!

20 minutes felt like an hour as we flew over our home, the World, the Palm, the Drydocks (hey, have I told you about the Drydocks, Britt?), and Jumeirah.

This will not be a popular post. A lot of the people that come...

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 18:14:19 +0400

This will not be a popular post.

A lot of the people that come by here do so because they know me. And a lot of the people that know me, know me from sport. That most likely means that, like me, they too are obsessed by cycling. Less likely, although still possible, is that those people are obsessed by running. Although runners and cyclists are pretty different, they have a few things in common, none more so than a fundamental hatred of multisport events.

Yep, this is a triathlon post.

I am currently 2 months into a 10 month ironman training program. This means that every form of exercise that I do should, at least theoretically, be done with the aim of better preparing me for the ironman. As I don’t know enough about triathlon training to do a plan on my own, this means I pay someone (who is excellent) a bit of cash every quarter to write a plan for me and walk me through what I should be doing.

Part of my plan involved doing an Olympic distance triathlon, whilst fatigued. While this sounds fine in theory, I am a competitive person. I am never going to school the Brownlee’s, but I am good enough to get decent times. This means that I don’t like performing at a level lower than I know I am capable of. Knowing that you theoretically can push harder but not being able to find the energy to do so is incredibly frustrating.

After the race yesterday, my new mantra is now “it is all in the name of the greater good”.

What a long weekend. Having spent quite a fair bit of time...

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 19:27:00 +0400

What a long weekend.

Having spent quite a fair bit of time outdoors back in Victoria, I have been missing getting out away from the city. As a result, for the past 9 months, I have been in B’s ear about going camping. After using every excuse possible, the lure of the wilderness proved too strong for even the staunchest of city dwellers.

In a nutshell we spent three days driving over incredibly rocky roads, swimming in hidden wadis, riding up big rocky mountains and eating (a lot). We were woken by goats, met some Omani police (who were so friendly), had our feet nibbled on by fish, saw a donkey, wrestled with bushes, did some bush cooking and slept under the stars.

All in all a decent way to spend 72 hours.

Our first camping trip. Oman for the Hijri long weekend. Camping...

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 09:20:33 +0400

Our first camping trip. Oman for the Hijri long weekend. Camping and racing bikes. Doesn’t get any better.

Loads of pics to come.

Big Red. To prove that we were actually riding…

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 18:48:00 +0400

Big Red.

To prove that we were actually riding…

Big Red. This weekend saw plenty of action, including a 4:30am...

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 18:44:06 +0400

Big Red.

This weekend saw plenty of action, including a 4:30am wake up on Friday (aka Dubai Saturday) for an endurance session on the TT bike. Because I was riding Tubs, the excellent B joined as a support vehicle. Amazingly, not only did she not mind, she had a great time as it was our first time through this sensational scenery.

We now know where we are going for camping sessions with Molly and Bella.

Bella enjoying Raw Coffee’s coffee bags.

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 12:31:55 +0400

Bella enjoying Raw Coffee’s coffee bags.

Hakkasan. Probably our new favourite place in Dubai. The food...

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 17:16:00 +0400

Hakkasan.

Probably our new favourite place in Dubai. The food is excellent, the setting is intimate but fun and the cocktails are the best we have had in Dubai (try the Smokey Negroni). There is certainly better food, wine lists and settings, but for some reason we always walk away smiling.

Here we have wagyu beef ribs, the dim sum tasting plate, the eggplant, mushroom and tofu hotpot, Szechuan chicken and some cheeky little cocktails. Bliss.

We took a detour to Raw Coffee today, the absolute best coffee...

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 17:10:00 +0400

We took a detour to Raw Coffee today, the absolute best coffee roaster and distributor in the middle east. It is also home of some of the most talented Baristas around. Our favourite Barista, Felix, gave us a few tips on how to use our new toy: the Hario Siphon.

We also left with some old hessian coffee bean bags, which will be put to good use as dog pillows on our balcony.

If you are transiting through Dubai and need a pick-me-up, there are much worse places you could visit than Raw!

Stylish, no?

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:27:40 +0400

Stylish, no?

Photo

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:10:31 +0400

Road id is here. For anyone interested they are cheap, hassle...

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 06:11:04 +0400

Road id is here.

For anyone interested they are cheap, hassle free and just might save your life. Please get one.

A great present from a top lass!

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 05:49:12 +0400

A great present from a top lass!

Frankfurt Marathon. As marathons go, Frankfurt is known as...

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:41:11 +0400

Frankfurt Marathon.

As marathons go, Frankfurt is known as being one of the best for the relatively inexperienced: it is flat and fast (the second quickest time ever was recorded on this course). Given that, and the fact that it fell over the Eid break, I thought it would be the perfect race to test my improvement since Copenhagen.

Was I misguided! The race route is fast, no doubt. But the one thing that I literally could not prepare for was the temperature: 0 degrees celsius when the gun fired. The day before the race it snowed. A far cry from my training in Dubai, where I would have to wake up at 5am in order to exercise before it hits high 30s/40s. I am sure that, had it been even 5 degrees warmer, I could have knocked off another 5 minutes in more favourable temperatures.

I don’t want to stray into the territory of describing the race - anyone who has ever read a marathon report will know that they never differ: “I started well, pushed through some initial pain, was surprised at how easy I was travelling after 20, hit a wall, pushed through pain, finished, cried”. Yadda yadda yadda. Instead I thought I would summarise my five race day realisations:

Support is key. Having someone on the course to smile at you, pat you on the back and hand over a gel is almost cheating. I can’t even quantify the effect Britt’s presence had on my time.
Even the most unexciting city becomes a second home after a marathon. I enjoyed Frankfurt, but as soon as the marathon was over, I felt an affinity to it. You literally bleed trying to get from side of the city to the other. You don’t forget that easily.
Sticking to a race plan is worth it. My first 1/2 was slower than Copenhagen, but set me up for a much faster overall time, as my second 1/2 was almost the same.
The cold gets you, no matter how many layers you have. Gloves, headband, tights, shorts, singlet, long sleeve jersey, windbreaker. All of these were necessary, and made a big impact in making me comfortable. Didn’t stop my toes from nearly freezing though.
Savour it. If you are doing a marathon you must enjoy running on some level. So enjoy it.