Elite athlete Dann Brook (www.dannbrook.co.uk) is one of a host of athletes competing in the capital of the United Arab Emirates this weekend, at the inaugural Abu Dhabi International Triathlon (www.abudhabitriathlon.com). The event, with a mouth-watering $250,000 on offer has attracted a stellar field, and Dann has agreed to provide an athletes perspective on the race for Tri247, through a regular diary over the coming days.

Here is his second update. If you missed it, you can find part one HERE.

11th March 2010 19:45

Today was hectic. It was 3am by the time I got to the hotel and checked in last night, so I worked on the assumption that getting up at 6am to swim the course was probably not the best idea! Instead I got up at around 9am and decided to see what was going on at the hotel, media centre, registration etc and start to get my bearings.

First off I bumped into Julie Dibbens before her press conference this morning and shared a few stories of colder places, winters in Boulder can get pretty chilly it seems – its not just the UK!

I left my bike bag with concierge last night so went to find a man who ran around for ten minutes before realising it was in a storage cupboard behind his desk, so I got it built up, got my accreditations sorted and generally got things organised. I also had a chat with Fraser Cartmell and Joe Gambles whilst building, nothing too heavy though, everyone seems to be in the same boat as regards to not knowing what's going to happen in the race, and people are keeping their cards very close to their chests!

At 2pm there was a swim session at a local pool, so I headed down and got a couple of k’s in nice and steady with a few 25’s hard to try and freshen up the legs a bit. I felt pretty rubbish today to be fair, standard post travel day I guess and the legs have got a lot of recovery to do in a short space of time.

So I tried to keep off my feet after that, the bus driver on the way home took us around to see some sights and luckily I had my camera with me and managed to get some pics of a few cool things on the way home.

The elite briefing was at 6pm, nothing out of the ordinary really, a few minor changes to the bike course (although to be perfectly honest I hadn't studied it closely enough to notice the differences!) and the obligatory ‘please don't draft’ warnings that seem to go on at all these race briefings. The new 12-meter rule will be in full effect here, which will probably catch a few people out but I was surprised the blocking rule wasn't stressed as much as I think it is due – which I find more irritating than drafting itself! It was great the see the entire pro field out in force and it really hit home for me how strong this race is going to be, both on the male and female side of things. There was also talk of early morning fog possibly delaying or worst-case scenario cancelling the swim, as apparently it was pretty hectic at the swim session this morning! Fingers crossed though everything should be all-good and everyone will get underway safe and on time.

So I'm now chilling in the hotel room listening to a bit of Miike Snow getting ready for tomorrow. Its an early start again, I'll be up at 5:30 to get a quick ride in to check the bike is all good before heading down to Emirates Palace at 6:30 for a swim session followed by bike racking and equipment check in. After 9am all I will have to do with my day will be a quick run in the evening, so it will be good to have a chilled day – the calm before the storm as I like to think of it before Saturday mornings shenanigans. So stay tuned for some more pieces from me tomorrow about how things are going and what's going on.

Dann