Thai training scheme

Apologies to regular readers, adventure racers and endurance racing fans...

It has, admittedly, all gone a little quiet on the Desert Hacks blog of late. And understandably so, I think. After all the hype and build up to the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, there has been a bit of a lull as we all quietly return to normal training programmes and try to get work out the way so we can enjoy the Christmas holidays.

As we've said before, we have a new event in mind and we'll be revealing details of that in the New Year, as well as keeping you updated on how we go about training for that.

But the Desert Hacks blog has taken on a life of its own and become about much more than merely training and racing. And, for that reason, for the next couple of weeks at least, I'm hoping to use the blog as a way of keeping everyone updated on my Christmas and New Year spent in Thailand. It'll be my first time in Thailand, but also my first holiday as an endurance race-aholic! How will that affect my vacation?

Well, the plan is a few days in Bangkok, New Year on the islands and a week exploring. I'm hoping to find some decent hiking or at least a day's trekking and, while I'm sure excess will have a part to play, I'm going to see whether it's possible to enjoy a holiday without letting everything go to pot.

A few runs and swims should be easy enough (I hope) and seem like pretty decent ways of checking out the stunning surroundings, but I've also worked out a good couple of strength sets based on things I can do in a hotel room or on the beach. Tri dips, press-ups, jumps, squats, mountain climbers, chin-ups, core stuff...

I'm not actually a member at any gym at the moment as the vast majority of my workouts are swim/bike/run. However, I do try to do at least one strength session a week and two core sessions and it's amazing just how much you can achieve with some open space, a swiss ball and some elastic tubes. My workouts with those are every bit as rigorous as anything I ever did at the gym. A friend one told me that, no matter what machine or piece of apparatus you use, the best chest exercise out there is still the humble press-up. Good advice.

Let's just see if I can stick to it when lazing on the beach, sightseeing and some top-class partying are on the menu. Will keep you posted.

Matt