Drylands

From middle school through high school I swam every day except Sundays. Two or three times a week after practice we would have additional "drylands" workouts. To a swimmer, this means any physical thing that isn't swimming. 

I like to call my non-running workouts drylands workouts as well. Usually I don't like drylands. I'm not a fan of gyms or weight rooms, cardio stuff is my weakness right now, my arms have always been shrimpy, and who likes planks (not me).

I didn't work this morning, and I didn't feel like running hills, but I really need to whip my cardio into shape. Here's what I did:

1:00 jump rope

15 wall pushups

20 lunges

(repeat all 5x)

This, plus a little stretching, took less than 30 minutes. 

Now, I've seen fancy weighted jump ropes, all different types of cords, wooden handles, foam handles, molded grip handles. I've tried lots of them because I was curious. Is my lack of appearing to jump rope like Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby simply because I had the wrong jump rope?

Deff don't look like that when I skip rope

That question was rhetorical. Obviously it comes down to getting in shape regardless of the tools you have at your disposal. I just happen to have a jump rope that I got from a free event that is the best jump rope I have ever used. 

My high-tech jump rope

The handles are slim and plastic. The cord is a translucent hardish plastic that really stings if you hit yourself with it (ahem). And the handles rotate around the cord without making it all twisted up when you're jumping (that's the most important quality for a jump rope to possess IMO). 

Jump roping kicked my butt today, cardio-wise. I think I have a good amount of muscle because I have to climb a mountain just to get to the metro station, but my cardio and active recovery is pitiful. Here's my resolution to add this into my workouts three times a week!

Do you use jump ropes? Do you like the rope you have?

Running to the Palm Jumeirah

Last night I decided to run to the Palm Jumeirah. The Palm is one of the famous man-made islands in Dubai.

The Palm Jumeirah when it wasn't fully developed yet. (source)

Originally, I planned to run straight along Al Sufouh Road from Dubai Marina. It's a pretty good road to run along because if you run on the ocean-side, the only cross streets are to private residences or resorts. That means you don't have to stop for ridiculously loooong red lights.

But when I was running, I saw cars turning easily onto one of the bridges to the Palm, and I noticed that there was a pedestrian-friendly sidewalk. There are other ways to get onto the Palm that are NOT pedestrian friendly. I had a bad experience on one of the other routes, and that's why I didn't try to run there before.

Following the road from Dubai Marina

I was overwhelmed when I looked at a map, but when I was on the ground it became pretty clear which road I should take.

Use this road to access the Palm. You'll be able to see a brick sidewalk with an incline to the bridge from Al Sufouh.

After I started seeing the Shoreline Apartments on the "trunk" of the Palm, I turned left at the first crosswalk that I saw. I was able to run down into a nice landscaped park that hugs the monorail track.

The park has a brick walking trail, a rubberized running track with meter markings, small play areas for kids, adult jungle-gym exercise areas, a stream, grass, and trees. It's very quiet and peaceful. You don't hear car noises because it is surrounded by apartment buildings on both sides.

The track is lit, but there are lots of bushes and shadows that someone could hide in. I wasn't worried at all, because Dubai is very safe (for western women, anyways). I ran at about 10pm, but there were a few other runners using the track too. On my way back, I noticed a few prostitutes soliciting johns in front of the Shoreline Apartments... sketchy, but no one bothered me.

I didn't get to spend a lot of time on the track because I planned to run 4k out and then turn around for a total of 8k. Maybe next time I will take the Dubai Tram to the Palm Jumeirah stop on Al Sufouh, then from there it's about a 10 minute jog to the track.