Team Schnitzel to fundraise for Facing Africa!

Teams Hurt2Help and Schnitzel prepare for the 2010 TransAlpineRun

in aid of the Facing Africa charity.

Let's get to know our new fundraisers a little better .. 

Hurt2Help with Shawn Matthews (tallest!) and Dave Mather 

Pic courtesy of Sarah Heaney Photography

30th July 2010

Hey guys

Thank you for agreeing to bare your soul in an attempt to make our blog a little more glamourous by featuring TEAM SCHnitzel .. and thank you for agreeing to help fundraise for Facing Africa! Good to know people will benefit from all our exertions!!

OK. Here we go ..

* what other endurance events have you done? not necessarily "races" so to speak but anything slightly mad and possibly painful is good to know

SM ..... Mt Stewart next to Townsville RAAF Base a couple of times. Once the long way on the road on a pushbike and once "straight line bushbashing" on foot (hard to tell which was more painful, probably the bike. No planning, no preparation, no puncture repair kit! It was the last 10 kilometers running with the bike the makes it the winner!) @2005 - Alps climbing / Matterhorn (hardest single day thing I've ever done!)@ 2008 - Various Jebels West of here (not hard necessarily, just stupid) @2009 - Jordan Marathon @2010

DM .....clearly the MdS - with you guys. Have you forgotten already? I was just ahead of you!

*when did you decide to do this race? SM ...... your garage (Australia) - foose ball and beer @Feb 2009?

DM ...... 18 Sep 2009, about 9pm and I was in the bar (pissed). You twisted my arm.......... the rest is just hearsay

* how long have you been training for this race?

SM ........ Jan 2010

DM ....... since you convinced me it was about time I got off my arse and stopped eating all the pies

* what is your typical day? how often do you train and doing what?

SM .... midweek: an hour gym (weights) and an hour treadmill or tyre dragging - weekend: extended period of time "on feet"; 3 - 4 hours running or hiking hills or yomping with heavy pack or tyre dragging etc

DM .... to avoid working for a living. Regular interval training using minimal effort and maximum intervals. About 11 o'clock, wibble.

* what is your favourite training session?

SM ......... I like the rest day

DM .........anything followed by pizza. The TransAlp is merely an excuse to finish an overly-long training session in Italy.

* what is your nutrition strategy?

SM ........ training: stop smoking cigars 6 weeks before the race - racing: at least one Schnitzel every day!

DM ........ eat to stimulate at least 4 bowel movts before the race and then gorge myself like it's Ramadan afterwards

* what will be your next event after this one?

SM ........ 6 foot track run Feb 2011

DM ....... much easier

* assuming you are happy to be essentially running for the Facing Africa charity now .. how do you feel about that?

SM ....... any raising of awareness as to the plight of those less fortunate than us "fat, soft westerners" is a good thing

DM ...... I'm doing what??

* a little-known fact about you is .. ??

SM ...... why, what have you heard

DM ..... I've only got big known facts

* what is the first thing you will be doing once you have conquered the TransAlpine??

SM ........ Beer and Schnitzel

DM .......conquering my wife

Thanks kids .. I think we all know you a little better now .. frighteningly so!!

Now let's hope this soul baring brings in the cash for Facing Africa ..

Shell  ;-))

The Prophet's Seat ..

Dawn chorus and still dark skies pass quickly as a rosy pink blush colours the early sun .. our day starts.


A silty, dusty drive takes us to the other side of the big sabca (saltpan) due north of Tabuk. A look on Google Earth 28°42'58N 36°35'02E will show you our target. The Prophet's Seat towers mightily over the surrounding shale, sand and salt of this barren stretch of desert.

It's sheer walls call us steadily in; each rise and dip alternately revealing and removing our beacon from view.


So cool to start at 25°C this jaunt seems deceptively simple as we head off. Why not throw in a few climbs along to way to spice things up?

Our planned 38km (5.5 hour) route and temps into the high 30's require support today. 4WD's loaded with extra water and "treats" are flanked by dirt bikes and due to meet us soon. Will we make the Seat before this convoy of friends make the catch? 


A plume of dust. A drone. Headlights on the horizon say not.


A standing fly-by, a hoot of joyful encouragement and the boys on bikes are here. An uplifting diversion as we are now just 5km short of the target. 


Trucks follow. Photo ops. Cheery waves. The desert now teams with life. The Seat is ours for the taking.

With temperatures creeping high and joints feeling "worked" we plough ahead for the return leg. Another few high speed passes from the bikers and a last water station courtesy of our support crew is gratefully received.

Saltpans stretch ahead to home; surely much much wider than just 4 hours before??


No walking finishers here as our "gang" await us .. "Kodak courage" ensures a powerful finish.


Great day. Phew! All done.


Thank you team - bikers, drivers, photographers. Thank you all!

Really nothing to see here. Really!

We are now 3 for 3. Yeah!


That makes a whole weekend of on compound training and, although left a little screwy, we are done .. phew!


Laps of 1.7km around the perimeter wall .. again.


This time running and "nordic" walking with heavy packs for variation.


This "warm up" leaves us very warm indeed and totally drenched in sweat as is the norm with our blistering summer temps.


And next? The gym and a wee beasting with another Shawn brain child .. let's start with a circuit, shall we?

Burpees are always a nice way to toast yourself before you get onto the treadmill at it's highest incline I find.


Benefit. Each session short and sweet to finish. Oh, and of course leg strength and mental toughness!


And now we are done. A lld on the lounge and perhaps the afternoon with good friends and a cuppa .. ??


(NB. lld = little lie down)

Really runnin' laps of TGV!

Second weekend session nailed. 


This time with the addition of some tyre draggin' 'round the perimeter fence. 


I do love the expression of the guards as I go noisily by - pure horror!


Today it's home in time for chocci shakes and egg bacon wraps!


NB. No pork products in Saudi so beef bacon is the go. 


Mmmm .. so glad my veggie-ness is a notion of the distant past ..

Runnin' laps of TGV ..

First run of this 3 day weekend all done and dusted for me before the heat of the day really whacked up to unbearable.


25km round and round the compound went surprisingly quickly with a little Michel Thomas going on via my rather sweaty iPod.


Luckily I am now done.


My boy is not so lucky as his is yet to do post work and the mercury in Tabuk is at 44°C and still rising .. ouch!


PS Super pikelets with Missie Jodster were perfect carbo-reloading for me .. ready to run again tomorrow!

Go here for a great video trailer of our adventure!

Dripping sweat and dodging spanners ..

Twin teams in the desert this morning as we report for action clad in matching Sandbaggers gaitors.

A look comically yeti-like whilst being strangely comforting to the MdS-ers. Hmm, worrying?!

Regardless, we are kitted to avoid shaking sand from shoes today though possibly broiling our feet in the process!

A nice early start to enjoy the “cool” of the day succeeds as it is a mere 36°C when we retire 4 hours later to the chill of our GMC Yukon a/c post session.

This double tap weekend had us scaling repeated piles of shale (our Tabuk desert version of Alpine peaks) again today. Learning to "dodge spanners" Shawn assures me. If we can do this surely those European hills will be only a delight? A delight. A delight.

And Patches would be proud as we dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge across endless stretches of crumbling sandstone slab shattering easily beneath our “feather-light” tread. 

100% concentration 100% of the time needed for foot placement here. Fragile pock-marked plates line peaks and slopes alike. Bands of black cut granite blocks follow. Gravel plains spread to the foot of slag heap mélanges of misshapen rock. Each similar only in that they are nicely sized to be difficult to run on. All pass crunchily beneath us as we forge onwards.

What a relief to enter the last long stretch of pristine sand dunes? Golden. Crisply edged. Unmarked except for a spritely Gav’s footprints as he goes tritting ahead like he’d had too many sport jelly beans!

Though this testing finish sucks out the last vestiges of strength from my thighs at least there is a relaxation in my concentration levels. I allow myself to flop along momentarily before the final grind to the car.

Almost at the car .. almost!

Beer and schnitzel?

There is the good feeling today of being truly underway as we head in convoy to the desert.

For the first time the Tabuk TransAlp 2010 challengers will train as two complete teams!

The preceding months of individual, two and three-ship training come to an end as Team H2H (us!) and Team Schnitzel make for the somewhat hopefully named “Hill Climb Valley” and 3 hours of scree-scrambling running.

But first, who are Team Schnitzel?!

Dave “why-not-carbo-load-with-beer?” Mather and Shawn “I-can-eat-schnitzel-every-night!” Matthews seem to have been running buds for years as they set off chattering away up the wadi (valley).

Dave, aka Le Fantom, ran the MdS with us in 2008 and is always keen for an adventure if you can find him one. 

Shawn, of Tyre Draggin' Boot Camp fame, though new to distance running events is no stranger to the mountains or self-created endurance challenges. With a climb of the Matterhorn under his ever-tightening belt he is also our resident matter expert for all things Alpine, climbing and generally "beasting" related.

And so we scramble.

A blissfully cooling breeze greets us each summit as we take in distant views of crop cirles and spreading plains along with our High5 IsoGels and Lucozade Sport Jelly Beans.

A tiny sign spotted in the distance near our start point is a brief topic for discussion. Apparently it could be roughly translated “Danger – Mine Field”. Hmm.

Regardless, it’s a good run done well by all .. and best of all it’s over before lunch!

Summer D.I.S.C.O. and fundraiser? Roaring success!

Donating and disco-dancing. What more could you ask for? 

Great night. Great fun. 

A huge thank you to everyone who helped out! There were so many willing hands it made for very light work and a massive total for Facing Africa. 

SR 8,000 .. GBP 1,400 .. AUD 2,400 .. give or take a bag full of halalas.

Wow!

Thank you one and all.