Tag Archives: triathlon

UP Law Dean’s Cup Triathlon in Photos

Posted on by dimsumandsiomai
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IMG_8887 Walking up to transition area to set up and get body marked. As always, feelings of hurling my guts out were present. I was a good thing Tricia was there to calm my nerves.

IMG_8895 Yoda and I at the finish line just before the race. Yoda is the Endure Mascot.

Eleen, Pio, Rj, Gerard, Tiff With the team and our patented Triangle Formation. Ellen, Pio, Rj, Me, and Tiff. I was glad they were there.

IMG_8922 Me and my ugleh swim form. Bent knees and all.

IMG_8939 Coming out of the pool for the first time. I look like a sea monster. I wish it was more than just looks and that I also swam like one. :( Getting out of the pool was the hardest. Had to do that a total of three times.

IMG_8957 It was quite a run from the pool to transition area. I was lucky enough to bring a pair good fitting slippers.

IMG_8973 I was out of T1 in a couple of minutes. I made sure I had my shades on so that I’ll look like a PRO. Oh yeah. That my friends is how you properly mount up to a bicycle.

IMG_9032 I look happy. I finished the 20k bike at around 51 minutes. I am still slow. Thanks to the humps though, I have a reason for being slow.

Happy to have finished my 2nd triathlon Oh yeah. My second Triathlon is complete and here’s to hoping that I do more.

Tricia Thank you Tricia for coming! I love you! With out your support, I wouldn’t have finished the race.

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How To Survive Your First Triathlon

Posted on by dimsumandsiomai
2

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Subic International Triathlon Photos 2010

Posted on by dimsumandsiomai
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Went back to Subic to cheer for Tito Bong and take photos in the process. It was a lot more packed this year compared to last year and the years before. This was my third time shooting the event and I must admit I was kind of getting bored already. The boredom went away though when I was able to take photos of the takbo.ph guys and Tito Bong. It was great seeing them in their best form. See you guys next year. I might not be able to take pictures though because I plan to join next year.

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Full album!

Running: Two Weeks Worth of Updates (New Kicks, Urbanite Thoughts, Long Breaks, and that Ultimate Dream)

Posted on by dimsumandsiomai
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A lot has happened in the past two weeks and I can’t think of any fancy words to start of this entry about the time that has passed so here it is, clear and simple.

New Kicks. I got myself a new pair of shoes. After a brief realization that I was housing my good old running feet with the wrong type of shoes, I became a bit cautious about running in my NB769′s. They were very good stability shoes but if worn with the wrong type of foot, they might end up doing more harm than good. I was a supinator and if my kind wears stability shoes, I would in totality worsen my supination. I would end up rolling out my foot more which could lead to severe injuries. I was sidetracked. I held back on my running. I limited my runs to a maximum of 5 kilometers at a time because of the fear of having the wrong type of shoe. The opportunity to get new shoes came when I went to Shangrila Mall before heading home from work. I passed by the New Balance store which I always did ever since I got back into running. They just release new models and there was one the really caught my attention. I always knew cushioning shoes were on the expensive side. They were shoes meant to correct a very bad type of pronation which mean that more technology had to be put into them which also meant that they would be a little bit more expensive.

God Bless New Balance for coming out with the 758. They were cheap cushioning shoes which I got for a little less than 4000 pesos. They were good and had a really snug fit. The fit on the heel part of my foot was very snug. I didn’t even feel my heel slightly come off when I lifted my foot. I fell in love with them.

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I instantly felt the difference between my 769 and my new 758 pair. I could no longer feel my foot rolling out. I couldn’t even force my foot to roll out when I’m just standing up. I ran 5 kilometers with them the next day and the feel was like eating a hot and fresh Krispy Kreme donut, light and satisfying. I love the fact that me feet doesn’t roll out anymore. I also the fact that I’m now wearing the right type of shoe which means that I am less prone to injuries.

Urbanite thoughts. I wanted to break the 60 minute barrier in my last 10 kilometer run. I tried to do it but failed. I came up a bit short and finished at a very respectable 62 minutes. With my recent attempts at trying to beat my personal best, failing is no stranger to me anymore. To date, I have not broken any of my personal bests. I have sulked about it in the past and I firmly believe sulking is what kept me from beating my limits.

I should learn and improve. I should train more. I should run more. I should do more long runs to improve my endurance.

The 10 kilometer route in the Urbanite race got the best of me. Hills were always my pitfall and I knew I never really trained for them. I have learned my lesson. A day or two after the race, I went back on the road and did some up hill trainings. I now include that hills in the village I run in when I do easy runs. It may make me pant like a dog one a hot summer day but it is all worth it. I should join a 10 kilometer race again soon to see if I’m improving.

Long Breaks. I had a very long 5 day break from running last weekend. The runner in me wanted to run but it was a very warm welcome break for me. I went to Camsur last weekend to cover Cobra 70.3 Ironman Triathlon. Before I got back into running, I was hastily clicking away on my DSLR. Now I got a big chance to show off my photography skills and show them off I did. It was a very long car ride to Naga city but it was well worth the trip. I was able to see Mayon, was able to see a lot a elite athletes strutting their stuff on a 1.9k swim, 90k bike and 21k run and to top it all off, was able to spend some quality time with my girlfriend and her parents.

Expect to see some photos of the event in my blog soon. I just have to process them. Congratulations to all the participants for finishing the race. I extend my deepest condolences to the swimmer who didn’t make it. May your soul rest in peace.

I could never imagine doing such a distance but seeing how easy they make it look brings me to my last thought.

…that Ultimate Dream. I know I’ve been blabbering about completing my first full marathon this year but there is a bigger dream to be waiting to be realized after its completion. I always envied my girlfriend’s dad when he competed in triathlons. I’m a religiously training my endurance so that I’ll be able to complete a triathlon someday. I should get myself a bike first. I should get over the fear or getting water in my ears first too. So many things to conquer and overcome and there will come a time where I will have had surpassed them. By next year, expect to see me in Subic competing in their triathlons. Come 2011, expect to see me back in camsur for the third installment of the Ironman. Oh how ambitious I can get sometimes.