Here’s some photos I took from the recently concluded Lactacyd Woman Run
Lactacyd Team Woman Run
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Tag Archives: running
Mini-Triathlon Weekend
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.
Happy Trail Running at Enervon’s Happy Trail Run
I absolutely enjoy trail runs. It was my second time running at Timberland Heights care of the Enervon Happy Trail run. The first one at All Terra’s King of the Mountain Trail run. I finished my first run in Timberland at a little over 80 minutes. I was a newbie back then and finishing the whole trail course was an achievement already. After over a year, I am back and more prepared. The trail was harder this time even though the starting line was nearer the start of the trails.
It was nice seeing the Joel, Wilnar, Erik, Tiff, Let and the twins at the race. It somehow took off the jitters from me. The 10 kilometer trail race started promptly at 545 and we were off. Wilnar blazed past me and 55 minutes later he finished the trail. As always, I was slowly pushing on like a diesel engine. Slowly but surely, I would finish the trail.
Just as I first encountered the Timberland trails, I still cursed at the steep inclines last Sunday. There were climbs that were so steep that you needed to crawl on all fours just to get to the top of it. There were drops that would really give you the nerves.
There was a drop so steep where you needed to hold on to a rope just to get down. I was hanging on for dear life. I didn’t want to end up looking for my missing piece and start rolling down so I grabbed on to that rope as tight as I could and I slowly went down.
That was only the first 3 kilometers of the run. The next 7 kilometers were filled with more long climbs, steep descents and even longer climbs which literally reduced my run to a walk. I actually didn’t think that I would finish the run under 70 minutes as planned with all the walks I did.
Fast forward 69 minutes and 30 seconds later, I finished the run. at the last 100 meters Joel saw me and egged me into running it all out. It was a good thing he did or else I wouldn’t have finished under 70 minutes.
All in all the race was a great experience. I got to run the trail with an improved time. Erik got to run with his kids. Joel got to run his first 5k trail run with an amazing finish of sub 23. Let improved her time too. Last but not least, Wilnar also finished with an amazing time of 55 minutes. They are ozzom and I still need a lot of improvement.
Check out the photos from the event!
A big thanks to Tiff for making last Sunday’s run possible.
A Weekend of Biking and Swimming
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.
A Lot of Lessons Learned the Hard Way
Last Sunday was Duathlon day. I’ve been pretty ecstatic about the race ever since I got my own bike and I’ve been dying to see how well I would do. I’ve been running really hard and biking harder. It was a very humbling moment for me last Sunday. I knew I could run hard and I knew that I could bike fairly well but when you put the two together, it all just gets messed up very much like a fruit salad gone wrong.
I came into the race last Sunday with a plan for running hard because I always thought that I could take a “break” while spinning on the bike. At the back of my head, I always knew that bike part of anything would be the easiest because you could just cruise along. This was a big misconception that would eventually hit the wind out of me, literally and figuratively, in a few minutes.
The race started off with a very easy 6 kilometer run. It was a 3k loop that we had to do twice. I wasn’t too hard but it had some inclines that we needed to climb. Nothing serious because I was able to compete the 6 kilometers in 31:51 minutes. It was a very good sub 6 pace. I ran hard and it felt great and exhausting. I went into transition panting and huffing and puffing like a mad diesel engine on steroids. I knew I had a good time but I feared that all that effort I put in might haunt me in the bike ride.
I took off my shoes and put on my cleats; strapped on my bandana and wore it under my helmet and I was out of transition.
I started off my 30 kilometer bike ride gasping for air and it was like that until the end. The thought of resting and catching my breath on the bike was no where to be seen. I started of with a steady speed of 25-30 kph. I could barely keep it up but I tried to. Even at that pace, a pace at which I thought I was doing well already, a multitude of bikes zoomed past me and left me in their dust. I could feel them zooming past me even if I was already doing 30 kph. I was a big humbling moment for me. I never thought biking was going to be as hard as it was last Sunday. It was a 6 loop course that was 5 kilometers long. The loop had an incline and it owned me. The incline owned me real real hard. Imagine Mckinley hills but a few degrees lower, and you’ll get to imagine how the incline was that we faced last Sunday. It was pure torture. Part of me wanted to go down and walk up the incline with my bike but that would have been the easy way. It was a struggle to finish the last 10 kilometers on the bike. I crawled to a 20-25 kph pace and it was disastrous. I ended up finishing my bike ride at 82 minutes. It wasn’t a good time. It wasn’t the time that I wanted because I wanted to finish the bike run at under 75 minutes. This just goes to show how much more saddle time I need to cover to make up for my lack of experience on the bike.
When I got back into transition, I racked up my bike, put on my shoes and started my run. The bike rack was arranged to have the age groupers beside each other and it was disheartening to see that when I got back, most of the guys from my age group were back already. The sight of a full bike rack was like seeing a free buffet on a full stomach. It was heartbreaking and hard to fathom.
I started out the 3 kilometer run easily. I am glad to report that the dreaded jello-legs did not haunt me but my run was slower than the first 3 kilometers. It must have been because of all the exhaustion. I kept and easy pace of around 6:30-7 I believe. I walked every water station. It was the longest 3 kilometers of my life.
That’s me crawling to the finish. Had it not been for my amazingly poor bike, I would have finished stronger.
It was a day of learning for me last Sunday. It was a lot of lessons learned the hard way.
- As cliche as it sounds, respect the bike. I never knew bike riding could be this hard. I grew up riding my bike all the time around our village and never did I think that biking would turn out to be as hard as it was last Sunday.
- I should practice transitioning more. I almost burned myself out in the first 6 kilometer run. I got a good time of 31 minutes but that left me all out of gas come bike time and I was lucky to even finish at 82 minutes. If I could manage to complete the a little bit slower at around 40 minutes, I might have enough energy come bike time to complete it at under 70 minutes. Slow but albeit fast and more respectable.
- I should call out my number when I cross the finish line. I was marked as DNF in the final results. Yes. It is heartbreaking. I don’t mind it as much because the thought of me completing my first duathlon and learning a lot of stuff is already enough. It will be just icing on the cake if ever the results ever do get corrected.
Here’s to my next duathlon and here’s to hoping I do better next time. See you on the road!