Until recently, I was splitting my time between London and the UAE for work. Last September, I spent four days in Dubai speaking at a health-tech conference. Early September in Dubai is no joke. The temperatures peak at around 44°C so training had to be planned pretty carefully.
Day One
I landed in Dubai in the evening, arriving at my hotel around 8pm. After a seven-hour flight, I usually need a bit of movement, but nothing too intense so travel days are typically rest days. I usually travel with IM8, a brand that I’ve been working with, that is an all in one supplement in a drink which helps me stay healthier given the lack of nutrients I get on a day of travel.
To help adjust to the time difference, I went out for a 40-minute walk. Even at that hour, I came back totally drenched in sweat. I followed it with 20 minutes of mobility work in the gym, where I ran into a friend who was also speaking at the conference. We ended up nattering and totally lost track of time.
Back in my room by 10pm, I ordered my go-to Lebanese meal and asked for extra salt to replace what I’d lost sweating. It always takes me a while to fall asleep in the UAE: it’s four hours ahead so I took magnesium and zinc supplements (BKM) and eventually drifted off around 1am.
Day Two
My first talk wasn’t until 11am, with a soundcheck at 10, so I squeezed in a morning run. While I wouldn’t recommend training in this kind of heat if you’re not used to it, I’m relatively comfortable up to about 35°C. I headed to Kite Beach for a steady 12km.
Kite Beach is one of my favourite places to run in Dubai. A long, well-maintained path stretching along the coast that has separate lanes for running, walking and cycling. There are cafe’s and water fountains along the stretch and I always manage to crash into a few popular running groups out there. It’s perfect for faster sessions, but given the heat, I kept it easy and ran for about an hour.
Back at the hotel, I loaded up on electrolytes and had breakfast (thankfully covered by the organisers). Knowing I wouldn’t feel that hungry later, I made the most of it: a date and banana smoothie, an omelette with spinach, feta and ham, plus fruit and yoghurt.
The conference day flew by, and by 6pm I was ready to leave. I headed back for a second session after grabbing all the free dates in the hotel. Today’s agenda was an indoor HYROX-style metcon. It was short but tough, made harder by a barely functioning air-con. In the gym, I met another speaker who happened to also be a tech founder. To add to his credentials, he was also an Olympic Nordic skier- which made for a surprisingly motivating training environment.
We hung out after the workout and spoke about his plans for Milan Cortina and agreed to meet for breakfast before we both headed off to work in the morning. You really can find inspiration anywhere if you look hard enough.
That evening, I had dinner with investors downtown. I don’t usually drink in Dubai as it’s too hot and honestly alcohol is so expensive out there, but I made an exception for one cocktail- it had been a long day, and I wasn’t paying.
Day Three
I was only speaking in the morning, with meetings scheduled across the city in the afternoon. Despite feeling tired, I foolishly organised a 7am padel session with friends.
We played at Matcha Club, arguably one of the nicest setups in Dubai, with red clay courts and greenery everywhere. Racket sports have become one of my favourite ways to combine training with social time, and it’s an easy way to get some low-intensity work in. I played pretty well by my standards and felt very happy knowing I had seen some close friends before the day started.
The rest of the day moved quickly: panel in the morning, then meetings in the financial district. Normally I’d walk between them, but at 42°C and humid, that wasn’t happening so I opted for taxis and made sure to keep energy levels up with coffees and juices.
I got back to the hotel around 6pm and had planned a recovery session with a friend in the spa but first, I had to get my threshold intervals done. For some reason, I decided to do them outside in a neighbourhood I know well, as my family lives there.
Bad decision.
Holding 3:40/km felt like an all-out 5K effort. By the second block, I felt nauseous. I was supposed to do 6 × 2km, but called it after four and finished the session on the bike. Sometimes, less is smarter- pushing through would’ve just backfired.
Afterwards, we spent an hour in the sauna, steam room, and pool, gossiping about the trip. Back in my room, I worked for a few hours and ordered far too much Palestinian food, as usual.
I was flying back the next morning, so I aimed to be asleep by midnight, knowing I had a full day of work ahead on the plane, followed by a strength session once I landed.
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