Rich and I are lucky to have trained in some awesome places in the last 4 years. We met through triathlon (and a little help from Tinder) whilst working in Singapore. We trained as triathletes full time for 18 months in the Lake District and Cornwall (UK), spent 3 months in Mallorca then moved to Dubai.
Singapore
Here we knew nothing but heat and humidity, but it became the norm and we loved the sunshine. We both thrive off the heat and sunshine and the ability to get outdoors all year around. Singapore also has incredible facilities, and it isn’t uncommon to live in a condo with great gyms and 50m swimming pools. We had a fantastic triathlon club – Metasport and loved their group swim sessions at different outdoor pools throughout the week. For running, Tuesday track session was always a fave – a chance to push yourself faster with the competition of your Metamates. Singapore is stormy but, if we encountered showers during training, they could be quite exciting, a welcome relief from the heat or they were over shortly after they had begun. I recall one track session where the rain was so heavy, my contact lessons fell out. I remember one bike ride where the lightening and thunder cracked all around us and I pedalled my heart out to get back home safe. Incredibly though, there was only one time in three years that it was so bad we called a taxi to get us and our bikes home.
Cycling was popular and although variety of routes were limited, we were never short of a group to cycle round the island with. This is quite literally what we did every weekend – cycled round the whole island of Singapore. We called this RTI (Round The Island) and we could choose clockwise or anti clockwise. It was usually around 120km, was always hot, always involved stopping for a refuel, and left us sweaty and ready for a cold shower, hot tub on the 72nd floor and a bagel from the best bagel café in the world! We also had lots of cycling and triathlon options next door to Singapore with Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand on our doorstep.
I still hold fond memories of running round Marina Bay Sands and the East Coast Park – both early morning and evening time held equally beautiful views. I would still live in Singapore in a heartbeat and wouldn’t rule it out in the future but Covid changed everything for us there. Lockdown in a small apartment on the 63rd floor of a city centre condo was a unique but often trying experience. It was our time to leave and we had triathlon plans brewing back home in the UK.
RACES – From Singapore we had tons of local races and triathlons to choose from, as well as Bintan a short ferry ride away, plus racing all over Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
UK
Rich and I are incredibly lucky to have spent 18 months (thanks to supportive family in the UK) living in two beautiful destinations – Lake District and Cornwall. We decided to take a year career break to live back with our parents, train triathlon full time, start an online coaching business and see where it could take us.
We had an incredible time training in the UK. Swimming wise – we had lakes up North and seas down South for open water training. The majority of our swimming, however, was up and down the lanes of local leisure centres. This did the job but isn’t the most exotic way to train. At the 4th training session of the week, at a slightly grimy indoor leisure centre pool, I often dreamt of our condo pool in sunny Singapore. Between battling the breastrokers in the fast lane, the often grim weather outside and Covid restrictions that only allowed us 45 minutes in the water, I sometimes questioned our decisions. Swimming outdoors was often beautiful, always involved a wetsuit, and tested my fear of deep water.
Cycling was a tale of two kinds. When the rain or cold stayed away, we had some insane cycling adventures. We cycled all over the lakes and Cornwall along beautiful coastal roads, past stunning lake vistas, up mountain passes. The views were out of this world and I often found myself in my happiest of all happy places. We were both in our element on 2 wheels exploring during long training rides. We rarely cycled the same route twice. Of course, we are talking about the UK so the second tale is due to the weather. Cycling was perhaps the discipline we made the most gains. This was partly thanks to the turbo trainer set up in our family’s workshop/garage where many a cold, wet, windy day had us running for our best friend… Zwift. The combination of our indoor and outdoor training and consistency through running injuries, helped our watts increase month after month. We became hooked on Zwift racing too and I even climbed up to Cat A category after a running stress fracture over winter left me cycling more and more.
Running was exciting in the lakes and Cornwall because we had beautiful views on our runs and a big variety of choice, especially for trail running. As our fitness increased, we often got carried away exploring the mountains and trails on our long runs. The adventures were endless. We also ran in wet, cold and windy conditions but neither of us minded this too much and often added to the adventure. Of course, there were days when we would have preferred sun and warmth, but overall we had the times of our (running) lives.
RACES – England has lots of triathlons to choose from but they might sometimes test your resilience! Our Cotswolds triathlon was changed to duathlon due to lake fog, Bolton 70.3 had terrible road conditions and the Southport tri had us swimming through stinky bright blue bird poo water.
Mallorca
We spent 3 months in Mallorca and have little to say except surely there are very few more stunning places to swim, bike run. A triathlete’s heaven and a place we will be visiting regularly in the future. (or who knows moving there!)
RACES – Ironman 70.3 Alcudia will always be a favourite place of ours to race. We would also like to cycle the Mallorca 312 one day and Challenge Peguera too.
Dubai
Rich and I moved to Dubai in January 2022 and have been triathlon training in the desert ever since. The UAE is not everyone’s cup of tea but we love the heat, sunshine and ability to train outdoors most of the year. Road cycling is not so safe but the cycling tracks are very impressive. We even chose to rent our current house based on its accessibility to Al Qudra cycling track.
Triathlon training has been exciting in Dubai, especially with our local club – ETS (Endurance Training Society) and the motivation of our team mates and coach Ryan Christian. Like Singapore, we have lots of beautiful outdoor pools to swim in, with beaches and ocean to swim on our doorstep. We have a beautifully well maintained, large cycle track through the desert that meets a lot of our training needs. We also venture to other Emirates for training camps when we need an adventure or change of scenery. There are even mountain climbs a short drive away, if we have had enough of the flat. We are very spoilt in terms of safety as the majority of our training is on cycle paths so we don’t have to worry about idiot drivers (only idiot cyclists!). If cycling on roads during training camps, we have a support vehicle to help us navigate traffic and keep us safe.
There is far more variety than people perhaps imagine in the desert. However, it also doesn’t compare to many places in Europe. The options are much more limited and you can’t choose a different route each week. You never check the weather forecast and only very, very rarely cancel a ride due to rain, pollution or humidity. In fact, most people are pretty hardcore and cycle on through the summer heat by cycling at night. When training for our Spanish Ironman through Dubai summer, Rich and I regularly left the house at 3am to start our bike ride. Mornings and evenings become your friend. Riding through midday and late afternoon is not. The facilities in Dubai are really impressive. The cycle tracks even have great public facilities to shower and change. The Hamdan centre and beach track are also triathletes’ hangouts. It is an incredible place to train, but sometimes trips abroad to greener climes are needed to break up the monotony of the desert environment.
RACES – Dubai has enough events to keep your triathlon calendar full all year round with no need to jump on a plane. It’s always nice to break up the desert life with some races in Europe and a change of scenery though.
We feel lucky to have trained in so many great places. Click here to see more photos of our triathlon locations.