Monthly Archives: June 2010

Enjoying My First Triathlon

Posted on by dimsumandsiomai
6

The joy and accomplishment I had at my first triathlon can be summed up with this photo.

Enjoying the run With that joy and accomplishment came pain and suffering but all that went away when I crossed the finish line. It was a long journey and after finishing the race, I am finally able to call myself a Triathlete.

The race started off with a long 950 meter swim. The count down to swim start was excruciatingly long. I could feel my stomach turning inside out and I could literally feel my motion sickness kicking in again. After throwing up at sea in my last attack at multi-sports, every chance I get to jump in the water has been a battle inside my head. It was a war between throwing up and letting motion sickness kick in and myself. I just hope this phobia goes away soon.

After a few more minutes, our age group was gunned off and it was pure chaos. It was hard to swim with nearly more than 50 other guys swimming along beside you. It was kick or be kicked in the pool. Joel advised me not to push myself too hard in the swim but the rush with the other swimmers made me push myself to the limit.I could not have imagined myself swimming with a group this big. It was a good thing that we always practice mass starts in our swim nights with the team. Thank you guys for training me. The first 7 laps were the hardest. I had to share the lane with a lot of other swimmers and it somehow made my swimming a bit cramped and conservative. I guess that helped a little in not burning myself out.

On completing the 7th lap, I got out of the pool and dived right back in.

Fail diveThat was my best dive of my career. I looked stupid and it hurt when I landed but it felt good. I passed some other swimmers and I could feel that I wasn’t sharing a lane with other guys anymore. I kept my pace and I slowly but surely finished the 950 meter swim in 23 minutes. I ran to transition and made my way to my bike. I was happy to see that not everybody from my age group hasn’t left yet. I put on my bandanna, helmet, race belt, and then my cleats and I was off. I was on my bike faster than you could say ‘fuji roubiax 2.0′.

I wanted to bike hard and finish strong. At the level I was at last Sunday, I could say that I did fairly well. It was 3 rounds on the ocho-ocho loop around AAV and it was a joy. Everybody was saying that the course was really confusing and I dreaded the day because of fears of getting lost. I wouldn’t want my good swim time go to waste and get lost in the bike leg so I took it easy on the first loop. As soon as I finished my first loop, I pushed harder on the next two. There was a strong incline that really slowed me down which brought me to the brink of standing on my bike to pedal harder but I resisted. I didn’t want my legs to get shot come run time. My time for the 30 kilometers was pretty decent but it was still slow compared to the other guys in my age group. I finished the bike in 70 minutes. Not bad if I compare that to my last bike race in Powerade.

That’s me coming out of transition. I love running and my photos from the event when I was running shows how much I enjoyed it. It was a 7 kilometer run that separated me from the title of triathlete. Part of me wanted to run hard in the first kilometer to end the race fast but there was a fear that I might not reach the finish line because I ran too hard. It was a long hard climb at the first few kilometers of the run.

Aprub

I felt sluggish and tired and I felt like I wouldn’t finish with in my target of 2 hours 30 minutes. Things slowly started to pick up when I got over the small hill. After a few more kilometers I saw a fellow age grouper who was struggling, I passed him. I saw another one, and I passed him too. I remember last year’s Kona Ironman, a video of which I gather lot of of inspiration from, where Craig Alexander over took those guys of smoked him on the bike and I felt like him. I was over taking guys from my age group and it felt good. I probably overtook four guys from my age group and it was euphoric. It really felt like a race and not just another fun run.

No more eyes I continued my pace until I reached the finish line. I clocked in my run at a little over 40 minutes.

Crossing the finish line was a feeling that I could not fully comprehend. It was a mix of both exhaustion and accomplishment. It was a like finishing and passing an accounting exam. It was like completing my first fun run. It was like all those things but more because now, I could call myself a triathlete.

With the bike See you on the next race guys.

With the bike Aprub No more eyes Fail dive Enjoying the run Running

Mini-Triathlon Weekend

Posted on by dimsumandsiomai
2

IMG-7394 It was the last weekend before my first official triathlon at Animo and I needed to get some serious training in. I hastily and carelessly ran myself out in my first venture into multisport when I burned myself out in the first run part. With utmost confidence and conviction, I could attribute my crashing and burning in that race due to my lack of experience in the world of multisports. Not to be outdone the second time, I joined the guys in their triathlon simulation. It was a 600 meter swim, 30 kilometer bike and 4 kilometer run triathlon. It was a great experience and I learned a lot.

After a very dismal swim experience at Camaya, I was reluctant to jump back in the water. The fear of motion sickness kicking in started to haunt me. Before the swim started, there was a nagging voice at the back of my head telling me that I should be afraid of the water; I should start to throw up; I should get dizzy again. I tried to block it off with a little warm up but the voice still haunted me. I guess the Camaya swim was so traumatic that it even lurks over my should even in swimming pools. We all started our 600 meter swim at the same time. I took it easy. I wasn’t a good swimmer. I wasn’t what one would actually call a Michael Phelps in the making but I managed to complete the swim.

IMG-7428 Slowly but surely, I managed to complete the 600 meters. I made sure I kicked hard on the walls to get a little advantage. The Animo triathlon will be in a pool too so I could really use the walls to get a much need push. I came out of the water at around 11 to 12 minutes. It was decent. I was happy with it.

IMG-7540 It was race pace for me even if I took it easy in the swim. The moment I got out of the water, I took of my goggles and my swim cap and headed straight to my bike to put on my bandana, helmet, and cleats. It should be in that order. Top to bottom.

IMG-7543 I was out of ‘transition’ before you could even say ’60% Animo Sprint Triathlon Simulation Weekend it was’. I was happy. It was quite a walk from the pool going to the roads of Aguinaldo. It was 10 loops around the 3 kilometer route that was planned. As always, I took it easy in the first loop. There was a strong downhill portion of the loop that I enjoyed a lot. I tucked myself in my aerobars and went down that straight line with speeds of up to 40 kph. It was hair raising and pee inducing. The downhill slope was fun but right after it was a U-turn that we had to make which meant that we needed to go up that steep incline. It was a good 200 or 300 meters of steady climbing. I blazed through it in my first run. The second time around, I switched to a different gearing combination which left me breathless. Not because heavens opened up but the light gearing wasn’t really what I needed going up. I had an easier time pedaling but the light gearing made me go slower. I may have had an easier time going up but I spent more time in the incline because I was going a lot slower. The longer time and effort on the incline left me breathless.

IMG-7639 I look ridonk-culus with my helmet. It looks like it’s just resting on the top of my head. It must be because of my bandana. I finished the 30 kilometer bike at around 70 minutes. It was good. It was good enough for me. It was certainly better than my first foray into the distance. I’m happier I was able to keep up the tempo. I guess the time I spent on the trainer really helped.

I started my run quite conservatively. It was 2 rounds around a 2 kilometer loop and I didn’t want to run out of steam in the first loop. I was easily doing a 7 minute pace in the first loop. It wasn’t too hard to transition from run to bike but the exhaustion was catching up to me. I felt a bit disappointed with my run. It wasn’t the most spectacular of 4 kilometers I’ve ran but it was good enough. I finished at around 24 to 25 minutes. I could have ran faster but my colds were catching up to me. I am hoping I will feel a lot better on Animo day.

It was a good Saturday morning. I am hoping that I can apply what I learned on race day.

SPLINTR UNPLUGGED!!!

Posted on by dimsumandsiomai
1

Splintr.com presents SPLINTR UNPLUGGED! First time acoustic theater performances by Sinosikat and Typecast on June 19 and by Slapshock and Greyhoundz on June 26. This 2-night special, directed by Quark Henares, will be held at the TEATRINO THEATER, Greenhills Promenade.

Only 200 seats available per show night so hurry and buy your tickets now at ticket hotline 8447678. Be part of Splintr history! Ticket price is P475 for one night and P850 for 2 nights. This isn’t just another gig; it’s your favorite artists fully acoustic, live on a theater stage!

Trying out Cincopa

Posted on by dimsumandsiomai
1

Cincopa. A hosting site that believes it should be easy for people to access and do stuff with their content wherever they are. Here’s me trying it out.

I am liking it so far because it is keeping my visitors on my site instead of getting redirected to my flickr when they are viewing photos. Yey, more site traffic.

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