Ironman Pedro Gomes shares his triathlon training tips for the UAE

Pedro Gomes is a pro-fessional triathlete who has focused on long-course racing for more than 10 years, and is also a certified triathlon coach. Coming from a non-sporting background and working his way to the top of his sport through a combination of consistency, patience and hard work, Gomes is still the only Portuguese athlete to win an Ironman event, in Sweden, in 2013. He currently lives between the United Kingdom and Dubai.

You’re a triathlete who has enjoyed success at an international level. How did you get into the sport and when did you realise you could be good at it?

My dad sent me to swim school when he realised I was gaining weight and living a really unhealthy lifestyle. It took me quite a few years to grow a love for sports in general. Triathlon came disguised as a challenge organised
by my swim club. There was never a point where I realised I could become good at the sport; it was just a natural progression of working harder and results starting to appear.

How do you cope with training in the UAE?

I must say it’s a lot more challenging than I expected, mostly due to the high humidity. I used to live in another desert, in Arizona in the United States, but in Dubai it’s more difficult to keep up, with the amount of water/sweat you lose during any outdoor effort. I’m always very aware of that and never forget to drink a lot during my workouts, and to go into the session properly hydrated. In the UAE, you don’t just drink when you are thirsty; you just drink as much as you can.

If people are looking to get into triathlons, what are some of the tips you’d offer?

Find a group, use it to stay committed and push yourself. Surround yourself with other individuals in the “same boat” and mimic their best behaviours. Be patient. As with any endurance sport, it takes time to build your engine, so don’t self-impose pressure or deadlines on yourself. Above all, it’s still about having fun and enjoying the process.

What are the essentials that you need for a triathlon?

Heart rate monitor, a clean, comfortable and fast bike, compression socks, good running shoes and coffee.

A lot of people have mental blocks when it comes to swimming. What would you suggest?

Group swimming and practice. The mental blocks happen mostly with open-water swimming, which I know can be challenging as I use to fear it myself. However, practice makes perfect, and with open-water swimming, the more frequently you do it, the more comfortable you are with it. Beyond the swimming itself, practice sighting: find something to swim to, like a building, a landmark or a buoy. I have found that having a target to swim towards, helps keep your mind focused on it and away from all the dark thoughts that may pop up during an open-water session.

Can adults become good swimmers, too? If so, where should they start?

Obviously they should start with proper form and technique. Once you make it across a 25-metre pool, focus on getting across faster and more efficiently. Work on body position, breathing, reducing drag and a proper front pull. Having someone look at your technique once a week makes a big difference to helping you improve. A famous Olympic swimmer once said: "I think of my form on every single stroke, when warming-up, when sprinting, when relaxing." And if you are an Olympic swimmer, you swim a lot of strokes per day – imagine how many times he thought about it.

What do you think the benefits of swimming are?

At young ages, it helps you build the aerobic engine that may allow you to get into any other endurance sport as an adult; besides, it helps with the proper development of the soft tissue in your body.

How important is nutrition to people doing varying degrees of exercise?

Think of your body as a race car: it doesn't go anywhere without gas. The body is a machine and works along the same lines: you need gas to run, and you continuously need to fill up the tank as you keep on going. People often forget how hydration is a key factor in the nutrition bag: they put too much focus on carbs or calories, and they tend to forget that for every molecule of carbs, you need two of water to store it and use it. So if you only focus on calories and carbs, and forget to pair it with proper hydration, you will not be able to use that energy.

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Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

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SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"

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Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

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6pm, Opening ceremony, followed by:
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Three-day coronation

Royal purification

The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.

The crown

Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.

The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.

The audience

On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.

The procession

The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.

Meet the people

On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.

Juliot Vinolia’s checklist for adopting alternate-day fasting

- Don’t do it more than once in three days

- Don’t go under 700 calories on fasting days

- Ensure there is sufficient water intake, as the body can go in dehydration mode

- Ensure there is enough roughage (fibre) in the food on fasting days as well

- Do not binge on processed or fatty foods on non-fasting days

- Complement fasting with plant-based foods, fruits, vegetables, seafood. Cut out processed meats and processed carbohydrates

- Manage your sleep

- People with existing gastric or mental health issues should avoid fasting

- Do not fast for prolonged periods without supervision by a qualified expert

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The burning issue

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