Dubai: Jalal Bin Thaneya started his gruelling seven-day journey across all seven emirates, in an attempt to raise awareness for special needs and snag a Guinness World Record.
The day before, the 30-year-old Emirati and his team of three supporters travelled from Dubai to the windswept desert town of Al Ghuwaifat, on Abu Dhabi’s western fringe.
From there, he began a night-and-day trek along desert and then mountain roads to end at Fujairah’s sparkling coastline. The conditions laid out by Guinness World Records are clear: he has only seven days to make the journey.
“When I say I might not make it, I mean I might not make it in seven days,” he told Gulf News ahead of his journey.
“Maybe I’m going to make it in seven days and a few hours. And, according to Guinness World Records, they don’t give a certificate if I come one hour late.”
Bin Thaneya’s tone hints at one very clear thought in his mind: that the pressure is on. Thankfully, he has plenty of support.
His friend, Yahya, will be alongside him, in one of the two cars his team has rented.
One of the four-wheel drive vehicles will serve as Bin Thaneya’s bed, changing room and kitchen.
During the evenings, a team member in another car will drive back and forth to supply Bin Thaneya with fresh supplies, including a change of clothes. He also has sponsors who have helped raise the cash he needs to pay two of his helpers, rent the two cars, and buy his running gear and snacks.
The list of sponsors includes his employer shipping giant DP World, and Ajman-based firm Artisan Tents.
Strategic shortcut
As well as providing cash, one sponsor firm, the Ajman Transport Company, provided him some very useful support — by mapping out a shortcut through the emirate, saving him valuable time.
“They were very strategic about it,” he said. Bin Thaneya said that he needs all the help he can get.
A decade ago, he made a similar journey across the country with just a backpack for company. But that journey took him 18 days — and he was not attempting a record back then.
“You can’t throw money at this. What you can throw at this is brainpower and physical power.”
If he succeeds, Bin Thaneya will be officially awarded for completing the “fastest crossing of the United Arab Emirates on foot”.
The record attempt will see him walk, jog and run — mostly along major highways — around 18 hours a day.
In recent days, he has been running and walking around 150km every week, and believes he is in peak physical condition.
“I overdid it one week so I got tired,” he recalled. “You burn out. Apparently it’s normal.”
While quick to thank his sponsors, Bin Thaneya has found the run-up to the record attempt a lonely one — and struggles to always be positive.
“Right now, I’ve got to do the logistics for this whole thing,” he said.
“I really want to get that world record. You’ve got to have a clear mind when you’re running. Sometimes when I’m running and I think negative thoughts, it slows me down.”
Bin Thaneya’s daily training schedule:
Most days in the weeks and months before his journey, the Emirati’s daily schedule goes something like this:
5am: Wake-up time. After morning prayers, he has a light breakfast and heads to Kite Beach in Dubai for a non-stop 5km run.
7.30am: Starts work in Jebel Ali Free Zone as a quality and strategy officer at ports operator DP World.
3.30pm: Finishes work and heads to a Jumeirah gym. There, he performs what he describes as an old-school, very standard bodybuilding workout. Squats, bench press, biceps, triceps and back — 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps.
4.30pm: Goes home and takes a shower. Then, it’s time for prayers, dinner, and rest.
8pm: Starts his last exercise of the day: a one-hour walk around the neighbourhood where he lives.
9.30-10pm: Sleep time. Bin Thaneya practises what’s known as biphasic sleeping.
What’s that? Biphasic sleeping, also known as ‘segmented sleep’, is a little-known technique where you sleep for four hours, wake up for one hour, and then snooze again.
He says this unusual technique has helped. But there’s one key caveat: “You have to sleep before 12. You can’t do it at 2am,” he says.
“If you sleep at 10pm, and you wake up at 3.30am, you can go the whole day.”
Breakfast of champions
To train like a winner, you have to eat like one. Bin Thaneya’s standard pre-workout breakfast is simple: a spoonful of honey and Weetabix with almond milk.
And when he’s making the record attempt, he won’t have time for sit-down meals. Then, his plan is carbohydrate-heavy dry foods — cereal bars, bagels, pretzels and pieces of cake.
