Around this same time last year, I joined my first multisport race. It was the 2010 edition of the Ateneo Aquathon. I could barely complete a good 50 meter lap on the pool back then but I managed to finish the 400 meter swim in 14 minutes and the 3 kilometer run with a very pedestrian time of 15 minutes.

That was a photo of me last year. Excited. Full of enthusiasm. Poised to conquer. Ready for the water. But beneath all that was a fear that I wouldn’t be able to finish the race. Back then, I could not even think of swimming with out my earplugs. My strokes in the water were never close to perfect. My inexperience in the swim manifested itself in the finish results as I came out of the water after a very very long 14 minutes.

This is me just before race start of the 2011 edition of the race. I have less hair and have found a new love for the water. I went to the race more confident and more prepared. With over a year of swimming mileage under my belt, I came into the race with an eager drive to best myself from the year before.

I came with friends and it was a joy to do the race with them.

A 600 meter swim and a very easy 5 kilometer run separated me from redemption that day. Even though it was already my 5th multisport race, I always get that feeling of hurling just before the start. As Marvin said, it will always feel like the first time; Full of jitters and uncertainty; Full of fear and anticipation.

My wave finally jumped into the water and I was welcomed with a very piercing feeling of the cold water and it didn’t help to drive out the jitters. I was with at least 19 other guys in the pool and as soon as the starting horn was sounded, it was an explosion of energy rushing from the testosterone engorged pool. It was push or be pushed. There were guys overtaking me left and right and even over me. Being a small guy, I was being bullied in the water. As much as I wanted to fight back, my size didn’t permit me to. I stayed on course and swam. I zoned out and tried not to push myself too hard because there was still a 5k run after. After a couple more strokes, the next thing I knew was that I had finished the 600 meter swim. I am happy to report that I finished it in 13 minutes. I managed to swim at least 2:15 per 100 meters and I was happy. Transition came and it was time to put on shoes and my race belt.

I have always been a runner and I think I will always be one. I will always come back to my first love because it is what I enjoy the most. As I went out running, I could feel the joy creeping in. I ran one of me best 5 kilometers that day for me. I clocked my 5 kilometers with a time of 24:25.

I was targeting a total finish time of sub 43 minutes that day. My actual finish was 37:25 and I couldn’t be happier. I managed to achieve two things that day. I was able to put my swim training to the test. The countless hours at the army pool after work really paid off. With hard work comes results and that is what I got in the race. I was also able to redeem myself too. It was a great victory having bested myself from last year.

A big thanks to Team Endure for the cheers. A big thanks to Marvin for the photos!

Thank you for joining guys!

A big special thanks to our sponsors for making all this possible.
Adidas
Milo 3 in 1
Sassa Activewear
Nature Valey
Men’s Health
Women’s Health
Runner’s World
BlackBerry

A big shout out to the volunteers from ANR! You have our utmost eternal thanks!

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All photo credits by my good friend and excellent photographer Marvin Opulencia. Check out his stuff here:zmarvin.multiply.com/​

It’s a little late to share this because the event is already over but here it is anyway. It’s a short teaser video for the aquathlon event that my team arranged to raise some funds. It went pretty awesome as I heard. Too bad I wasn’t present on event day. :(

Enjoy!

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Canon 5dm2

50mm

GoPro Helmet Hero

Fincal Cut Pro

I timed my 100 meter laps in my last training session and here are the results. I had at least 2 minutes to rest in between the laps  and I managed to average at below 2:13. Decent already but I would want to get faster. If I had the opportunity to swim with some of the pool monsters, they would still leave me in their water dust. I did my first 100 as a warm up and after that, I started timing myself.

• 100 – Warm up
• 100 – 2’10:7
• 100 – 2’09:8
• 100 – 2’07:1
• 100 – 2’05:7
• 700 – 16’33:1
• 100 – 2’05:4
• 100 – 2’04:9
• 100 – 1’57:3
• 100 – 2’08:4
• 100 – 2’18:7 – Cool down

I am happy to say that I am extremely happy with my averages. I still managed to swim below 2’10 even after going 700 meters straight. I had a blazing lap of 1’57:3 but that burned me out. I don’t think I will be seeing myself doing that in the near future. It took me more than 5 minutes to recover from that lap and if did that on race day, for sure my pacing would be put out of whack.

In those laps, I managed to swim relaxed and calm. I tried to maximize my glide before did the next stroke. I am far from calling myself a barracuda, but I think I am getting there.

I am far from calling myself a good competitive swimmer but I think I am getting there. I went up to Caliraya over the weekend and I spent a good amount of time in the water trying to acclimatize myself with how it feels like to swim in open waters. Not to brag but I am no stranger to the open water but my first encounter left me seasick which is why I took this opportunity to get a better feel of the water.

After a very light breakfast of cereals and fruits, I came down to the lake side with Tricia and her dad. We brought some life vests with us just for safety’s sake. We left them at the platform I was standing on so we could easily get to them if ever the need arose. I am glad to report though that we didn’t need them.

We really didn’t stray too far off from the shore because Caliraya lake was infamous for swimmers getting run-over by roaring speedboats but I still got the feel of the open water. I would swim out 25 strokes and swim back. I could feel the water getting colder as I strayed away from the shore. I could see the water below me getting darker. I could feel the water below me getting deeper as I swam off. I spent some time at the deep part treading and trying to keep myself floating before heading back. It burned me up fast.

All the energy spent trying to keep my self afloat should be better spent swimming. I’ll remember this next year when I do SUBIT.

I almost hit one of those posts while I was swimming. I started swimming out and I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was going. Before I knew it, the water was shallow again and it got dark all of a sudden. I stopped swimming just in time to look ahead and there it was. A big concrete post right in front of me. Tricia and her dad was laughing their asses off. I was glad I saved myself from a bump on the head.

Open water navigation is a chore. Sighting every few strokes is a must.

The swim last weekend felt so much easier compared the my last foray into the open. I guess it could be attributed to the fact that I am more experienced now. It could have been because the water was so much calmer this time around and it didn’t kick-start my motion-sickness. I felt so much more comfortable in the water.

I look forward to my next encounter with open water. With so much pool time under my belly, I think I’ll be a lot more prepared come SUBIT next year.

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.

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.

Well, to put it out in a short and sweet and concise way, I finished the Ateneo Aquathlon Lite yesterday. It was a 400 meter swim with a 3 kilometer run right after. I felt like throwing up just before the race but thank the good Lord up above that he gave me the power to complete it.

That is me just before the race. A big thank you to Tricia for coming with me. I wouldn’t have been able to complete the race without your moral support.

That’s me swimming with my knees all over the place. I need to practice my swim form more.

I was too fast for the camera. Tricia barely even got me in the view finder. That’s me barely out of transition and into the 3 kilometer run.

Fast forward 3 kilometers later and this is me:

That is me exhibiting exhaustion, disorientation, the feeling being lost, at the brink of passing out, oh a camera pointed at me, and epilepsy. I enjoyed it a lot.

My face gets all crumply when I smile. I’d love to do another aquathlon soon. But I need to improve my swim stroke more.