I took the liberty of going to MOA this morning to do a test on myself. I wanted to check if I can finally hit below 60 minutes on my 30k. It was quite a chore getting out of bed earlier but I trudged on. The cold weather hasn’t really been kind to my waking up early routine but I had to. The drive to MOA was a little light since it was still very early. I managed to hit MOA a little before 6 am. I parked, set up my bike, and then rode off.

I started off light at first. I was surprised that I managed to get up to around 28 to 30 kph on the small chain ring. I guess those butt numbing hours on the trainer is finally paying off. I would average at around 1:55 – 2:10 per kilometer which was well in target for a sub 60 finish for the 30 kilometers.

The 60 minute finish was well into the horizon up until kilometer 25 but fatigue started to creep in. My legs started to feel heavy and I could spin at a decent rpm anymore. I switched to the big chain ring to compensate for the reduced cadence. Instead of getting a bit faster, it wrecked my thighs a lot more. I had a hard time spinning on the heavy gears. I barely glanced 30kph on the last 5 kilometers.

I pushed on and tried to finish under 70 minutes and I did. I clocked in my 30 kilometers at around 63 minutes. It was a decent effort but I still didn’t hit sub 60. It’s back to the trainer for me tomorrow and Friday and a loooong ride on Saturday. Here’s to hoping that I can hit sub 60 next week. This will surely prepare me for the Sprint Triathlon that I have on June 12.

Spun easy for the next 6 kilometers and then, I called it a morning. Good workout!

I am far from calling myself an experienced triathlete and I believe it would still take countless hours in the pool, on the bike and on the pavement for me to really come close to the level of experience that elite triathletes have but here are some things to keep in mind when on race day to make sure that your first race will be fun and that you will live to race another day.

Prepare your gear before you go to sleep. This includes race kits, goggles, swim cap, the clothes the you will wear. This even includes your bike. Make sure everything is rolling OK. Pump up your tires to 100 PSI. Don’t forget your water bottles. Don’t forget your bike tools. Don’t forget your shades and your helmet. Put them in a transition bag (I keep mine in a transition bag. Its a bag where I keep my shoes, bike shoes, some clothes, and everything else. I got mine at Secondwind. Cheap too!) or a basket.

The blue bag there is my transition bag. I always keep everything in that bag so there’s no chance of me leaving something at home.

Set up well at transition. As soon as you get body marked, head on over to transition and hook up your bike to the bike rack. Take out your shoes and open them up. That way, it will be a snap to put them on later in the race. Put a little powder as well around the ankle area so that your foot will just slide in even if they are wet. Set up everything in a way that once you get there you won’t forget anything. Put your helmet on top of the bike to make sure that it will be the first thing you’ll grab! Safety first!

Take it easy in the swim. Nobody wins a triathlon by blazing through everybody in the swim. Take it easy and slow. Don’t get too caught up in the crowd because all you’ll get are lungs full of water. Be prepared to get kicked but don’t let that put you out of your groove. Zone out and just swim! An average of 2.5 – 3 minutes per 100 meters is good enough and you’ll still be able to get a good and decent finish.

T1: Top to bottom. In transition 1, coming from swim to bike, wear everything from top to bottom. Helmet, Shades, race belt, shoes. Make it systematic so you won’t forget anything. Make sure you wear you’re helmet the right way and not the other way around.

Attack with your strengths. If you’re strong on the bike, give them hell on the road. If you’re a good runner, give them hell on the pavement.A lot of my friends have finished this way. Gingerbreadman Luis on his first duathlon blazed through his run to overtake and finish ahead of most of the guys.

T2: Drop everything and run like hell. I heard of many horror stories of people crashing in the run portion of at triathlon. Make sure you still have some energy left and that you can still run easy. Spin easy on your last kilometer on the bike to give you legs some sort of breathing space. Don’t go out running with your helmet on!

Dance to the finish. It’s your first triathlon so you might as well make your finish memorable. Do a cartwheel. Scream out loud like a Spartan. Crawl to the finish. Do anything. Just make sure you finish the race happy and enraged and fueled to join your next triathlon.

I went to Hong Kong 2 years ago to satiate my thirst for camera gear. We were looking for Tony Leung’s place called New Sankyo. We had a lot of trouble finding it and we came to a point where we almost quit trying to look for it. We eventually found it but upon our arrival, it was closed.

That is how I felt after I crossed the finish line last Sunday as the 2nd Powerade Duathlon. I trained for it. I sweated blood and tears for it. But I still came short. I was targeting a finish below two hours but I was 3 minutes over the mark.

Aside from the fact that I did not reach my target, it sucks even more because my legs hurt and are still sore. I still can’t walk properly even after 3 days. And to top it all off, I am feeling all this all for nothing. My body hurts, my shoulders are sore, when I wake up I don’t feel rested, I am over trained, I can’t walk properly; all for nothing. I put in so much time into this and I still didn’t reach my goal. I did everything right and I still missed the mark.

I hope I have better luck next time.

I just bling-ed up my bike and I am guessing that the tweaking will never end.

First major tweak is my seat.

The ISM Adamo seat is really helping me stay in the aero position more and I am loving it. I am more comfortable sitting on it. I see myself spending lots and lots of hours on this thing and I will love it. If I can sleep with it, I will.

I got to score a good deal on Profile Design T1+ aerobars and I am loving them as well. Compared to my old set, I can now bring them closer to each other because they can accommodate oversized handle bars. Even though this is used, I am extremely surprised that the padding on the shoulder rests still feel very soft and comfy. I also upgraded to a bigger bento box and my miscellaneous items are loving the extra real estate. I still need to keep my bike tool in y back pocket though. The last time I stuffed them in the bento box, it disintegrated into a million pieces because of the vibration. Good thing I was a lot better than the king’s men and I was able to put it back together. I also found a way to move my cyclometer to the center of my cockpit. I am proud to say that I Mcgyver-ed it.

I am loving the feel of my new handle bar tapes. I was planning on installing them on my aerobars but since they weren’t that old yet, I put them on the handle bars instead. they feel great and soft. I see them enduring tons of my libag’s for a long long time.

Here’s one last shot of my new set up! I am definitely loving the new cockpit!

It’s been three days since Tricia left and I’ve been slowly adjusting to the new life style that is facing me right now. I’ve been happily training left and right and I think my body is hating me right now.

I finally got to use my new ISM Adamo seat for a decent one hour ride and it felt good. There is some pain on the sit bones but I think I’m still in the adjustment period. I am hoping that it behind will get used to it soon. I am happy to report that there is no longer numbing in the family jewels. I don’t get out of the aero position anymore to give the jewels a breather. I am happy I can manage to get down on the aero bars more but that is giving me new problems. Since I am spending more time on the aero bars, after 30 minutes or so, my shoulders and my biceps start to give out. I think I need to do some strength training on those areas.

With Tricia away, I’ve been doing a lot more training and that needs some adjustment as well. I can honestly say that my body is slowly adjusting but I can’t say the same for what I feel about Tricia being away.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In my efforts to seriously improve my Bike and Swim game, I devoted last weekend to both disciplines. Saturday afternoon was spent swimming. Tricia and I were desperately trying to make it to the Ateneo grade school swimming pool by 5 so that we can have a solid 90 minutes of swimming time. We managed to get there by 5:10 but we were extremely disappointed. Upon arrival, we were greeted by balloons and upon chatting up with the pool man, he told us the place has been reserved.I screamed a big no but crying over spilled milk wouldn’t have helped.

We transferred to our subdivision pool that was merely 10 meters long. At least we got in some swim time. I practiced my kicks. As of last Saturday, my legs and knees are still everywhere. I should really get myself a kick board so I can practice my kicks more.

Sunday came and I spent the morning biking around Fort Bonifacio. It wasn’t anything serious because there was a run going on so I really wasn’t able to bike properly with all the people on the road. It was a bit of a blessing though because there were less cars. I managed to do some mean hills last Sunday because I was able to reach Mckinley hills. It was a joy going down. I was able to reach 49 kph on my areo bars going down the steep hill. It was euphoric. It was panic inducing. It was hell raising. I could swear that if I hit a rock or a bump going down that fast, I could have launched myself forward from my bike making me fly like Superman. It would have been cool but so un-cool after. I managed to complete 25 kilometers that morning. I succumbed to the heat at around 8 am. It was too hot already. It was a good ride. I got to test out my new aero set up. I moved the seat forward and tilted it down a little. I feel less pain in the groin area. That’s a big ‘yey’ coming from the family jewels.Afternoon came and Tricia and I once again made a mad dash to Ateneo to swim. We were happy to see that the pool wasn’t reserved last Sunday. I planned to do 1500 meters. We were neck in neck up until 700 meters or so. I ate her dust in the water. She’s a much stronger swimmer than I am. I rested but couldn’t really get myself going again. I must have felt too tired from the bike ride or I must have been feeling lazy. I did kicks to cool myself down. It was agonizing doing kicks in a long pool. I could feel my legs about to give up on my 150 meter. I think I managed to do 200 meters of kicks. I hope I get to improve my swim form.

I took Monday off to rest up. I stayed in the condominium and I was able to spin and play PS3 at the same time. It was a good 3 hours of spinning. The three hours went by easy because I was playing PS3. I should do that more often.Imagine this with a bike, a PS3, and less scantily clad girls.

I good long steady run is up this afternoon for me. I plan to do around 8-13 kilometers. Here’s to hoping I complete it.

The plan is to be able to run 8 kilometers in under 45 minutes. That would be a rough pace of 5:40 minutes per kilometer. I think it is doable. I was able to do it once or twice already but it left me gasping for air right after. It left me panting like a pug on a hot day. How will this affect my 30 kilometer bike ride after blazing through the 8 kilometer run? I need another brick session to see how I will fare on race day.

Dog tired after a very fast 8 kilometer run

I need to improve my bike time too. I attacked the 30 kilometer distance last night to see how fast I could complete it. I had a 2.5 kilometer loop around Fort Bonifacio that I always rode around in and it was the perfect place. I wanted to finish the 30 kilometers at 70 minutes flat or better. I started out pretty good. Complete the first 10 kilometers at under 25 minutes. Everything went downhill after that. My legs felt tired so I couldn’t pedal as fast anymore and keep a high cadence. Traffic was building up which really forced me to slow down. I think I finished my 30 kilometers at around 75 – 80 minutes that night. I wish I could have gone faster but that was my best. With less traffic, I maybe able to bring that down to 74 minutes but my target is 70. I need to train more.

I’d see myself getting into this kind of position every time I feel strong winds blowing against my face.

Running after biking really hard is still a foreign concept to me. I don’t know how I’ll be able to pull off a sub25 4 kilometers after a sub45 8 kilometer run and a sub75 bike ride. This experience will be left to my imagination up until race day or until I get a decent brick area.

I fear the dreaded jello legs. In my research for finding the perfect photo for jello, I found a good exercise to prevent Jello Legs. But its for skiers.

Wish me luck!

The recently concluded Dimsum and Siomai Duathlon held last night was a smashing success. It was a run – bike – run format that proved to be challenging for the only participant that joined the event. It was composed of a 4 kilometer run, 20 kilometer bike and a final 2 kilometer run. It was held at the Ateneo de Manila Campus and an astounding number of zero spectators came to witness it.

I might be over sensationalizing my training session from last night but it was a big eye opener for me and my body. Even though it was just for training, I ran and biked it like it was a real race.

I started off with an easy 4 kilometer run around the campus. Since I had a good 2 kilometer route planned out already, that’s what I ran last night. I wanted to go all out in the first run session because when it was time to bike, I could easily just let the bike roll on its own if I got too tired. I ran all out. I completed the 4 kilometer run after 20:10 minutes. An amazing time. A blistering pace of 5 minutes per kilometer. Not bad. I need to make it faster though because I plan to do a sub 23 in the Unilab race on March 7.

I ended my run walking to my car. I opened my trunk and I started assembling my bike. Rear tire first and then the front tire. I put on my helmet and my cleats and I was off. I was stuck in transition for 4:04 minutes. Quite long by real duathlon standards because if it were a real race, I wouldn’t have needed to assemble my bike anymore.

I started off my bike by going around the campus. It was still busy around  the campus with all the cars and tricycles going around so I took a lot of caution. I started off pretty fast. There were times where my cyclometer would read 30+ kph and after a few seconds, I’d be out off breath. One thing I learned is that going over 30 doesn’t really help me right now because I can’t maintain it. Going up to more than 30 just takes too much from me and I’d need a lot of time to recover. I slow down. If I were just cruising at around 20-25, I would have traveled a little bit more with a lot less effort and a lot less panting. As expected, I was able to catch my breath from the run when I hoped into my bike. I finished the 20 kilometer ride around the campus after 54:52 minutes. Looked good to me because I was at least able to maintain a speed over 20 kph.

It was transition time again. I hopped off my bike and headed straight to my car. My legs were a little numb from all the biking but they got a little better after a few meters. I opened my trunk, disassembled my bike and I gently put them back in. Total transition time was 3:03 minutes. It could have been shorter because I tried to look for a water fountain before I started to run.

It was the final stretch at last. It was a very short and easy 2 kilometer run that separated me from becoming the first ever winner of the Dimsum and Siomai Duathlon. I started the run very slowly and cautiously. I have heard stories of legs turning into jello after long bike rides. I guess 20 kilometers aren’t enough to make my legs feel like jello or I must have taken too much time in transitioning that I somehow got some rest. I was slower in my run this time compared to the first 4 kilometers that I ran. I was tired and exhausted. I was spent and all out. Part of me wanted to walk but I didn’t want to disappoint the zero spectators that were waiting for me at the finish. After an agonizing 13:09 minutes, I finally finished the 2 kilometers and words alone could not express how tired I was after it.

It was a great run and bike for me last night and it sure proved to be a fun one. I am hoping to do better in an actual duathlon this March. Wish me luck guys!

After more than a week of recovering from a very painful Condura Marathon, I was finally able to run again last night. As much as I wanted to do a recovery run two days after the race, I couldn’t. My right foot hurt real bad after the run. I wasn’t able to walk properly for a week. I was tempted to go to an orthopedic because it wasn’t normal for me to have a long time recovering. I let a week pass and finally, the pain on my right foot went away.

It was a Training Grounds Run for me that night. I was so thrilled to be running again. I was so refreshed to be pounding on the pavement once again. The strong winds that always welcomes me in Fort Bonifacio is always there to greet me hello and goodluck. It was a very slow and easy 7k for me last night. I finished it around 40-50 minutes. I got my first taste of cramps around kilometer 3 and it felt really bad. My right calf started to tighten up and I could barely keep my pace up. I guess I am still not fully recovered. I must take it easy. I must take more time to rest.

After the run, I biked around BHS a little. I haven’t been able to talk about my new bike lately because I’ve been out having fun with it. I couldn’t have gotten the bike at a better time than after Condura. The bike is what kept me going and training last week with my injured right foot. Since I wasn’t able to walk properly, I needed a form of exercise that didn’t involve me pound my feet into the ground. The bike kept me busy last week and it was great.

I biked around BHS last night after my run and I crashed. I was going in fast into this turn and I saw a pebble. I did evasive maneuvers and they were a success but I lost my balance in the process.

I ended up doing something like that. It’s a good thing my bike is still in one piece and that I was wearing long tights that night. I would have gotten huge and long bruises on my legs if I weren’t. Damn you pebble from hell.

The evening started off pretty well for me but I had a bad case of cramps in my run and a crash in my bike ride. After a few more loops around BHS, I decided to call it a night. I had to quit while I was ahead; if ahead was what I was in last night though. It’s a long road back to recovery and I hope I can get back into shape.