Windle Valley Runners
Kuwait Chapter

12/9/99

During August temperatures climbed to the upper 40’s. Some say they reached 52^oC in the shade. But that is not official. The rules say that work must stop if the temperature exceeds 50^oC and as a consequence the official temperature never exceeds 49^oC. The heat would be bearable if not for the humidity which has hovered around 85%. This gives some interesting situations: the car windows mist up from the outside. But it is now September and the climate is much more pleasant. At present the outside shade temperature is around 39 to 40 but there is a breeze and the humidity is down.

Was I daft enough to attempt a run in +40^oC with +85% humidity. Of course I was. Within a mile I was completely drenched with sweat. At two miles I was on my knees. The third and fourth miles were a slow walk home. But, my wife sent me out a copy of Today’s Runner with an article on running in the heat. According to ‘Today’s Runner’ it only takes two weeks to acclimatise to the heat: after two weeks little is to be gained. I am now struggling to run 3 miles wondering if I will ever break the 4 mile barrier.

The Kuwaitis either do no exercise at all or they take exercise relatively seriously, not unlike the British. Seriously often means a lot of posing and little actual action. Running/jogging/walking is done along a 2.5 km strip of sea front just outside Kuwait city. At dawn or dusk and into late evening there are regularly 50 or so bodies exercising along this 2.5km long stretch. Amongst them are one or two reasonable runners and I have enjoyed one or two good paced runs before I have collapsed with exhaustion. An advantage is the pavement has been marked off at 200 meter intervals which is useful for interval reps. The difficulty is finding a clear 200m stretch and managing to hold any sort of pace over 200m.

I have recently (two weeks ago) moved into a superb apartment (small and expensive) located in a beach resort of very expensive and exclusive apartments yet only 10mins outside of Kuwait city. Facilities include a private beach, a superb swimming pool overlooking the beach and a gym equipped with programmable treadmill, cycle machine and stepper. And I am the only one who ever uses it. Every night I am there, doing my gerbil act, pounding away on the tread mill under the air conditioning while watching CNN news on the overhead TV.
The only real problem is I am expected to work during the day which is really interfering with my acclimatisation programme.

Today I have downloaded the Windle Valley Runners web page of the internet and I am pleased to see that record turnouts are being achieved now that I am away. Lets hope it is sustained.

It will probably be Christmas before I return to England. By which time I will have broken the 4 mile barrier and I will be well on my way to achieving some good half marathon times. (No point in running if you are not going to be optimistic). But, tonight there is a breeze so I think it will be a little bit of of outdoor interval work with the masses along the 2.5km strip.

Regards to all