On it's fifth year this 2013, Ironman 70.3 Philippines has long been the "A race" of most Filipino triathletes. It has stood up to its reputation as the biggest, most festive, and most desirable race in the local triathlon calendar. Both veterans and newbies are drawn to the event not only because of the prestige the Ironman brand brings, but also because of the experience it has to offer both participants and spectators. Having raced abroad, and based on anecdotes from professional triathletes and age groupers alike, our 70.3 here in the Philippines is by far one of the most enjoyable here in Asia, and perhaps even the world.
Before anything, what does it mean to have an A race? It's easy to peg a particular event as a priority race yet doing so entails so much more than calling it that. After racing Timex 226 and eX-tri last December, I took time off from a structured training program. I recharged mentally, physically, and even emotionally. Prerparing for such a long race takes its toll. Surprisingly, only after a few weeks, I had my "mojo" back; I was ready to plan for the next season, and even put in some training to get back the rhythm of things.
Spending almost two decades in Ateneo, I became familiar with the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupery. While most know him for his book "The Little Prince," I find inspiration from his simple quote: "A goal without a plan is just a wish."
I spent the better part of December assessing what my strengths and weaknesses were and did a lot of reading on these topics. I knew my strong points; I also knew what I lacked, yet was lost on how to address these limiters. Having a degree in Computer Engineering helped me a whole lot; I was trained to be analytical, logical, precise, and most of all, disciplined. Whilst some would fall into the pitfalls of "analysis paralysis," a careful balance between a being logical and having a good "feel" of the sport is needed.
For the first quarter of the year, I worked on my Olympic distance speed. I really hated this distance. 2-3hours of red line racing is not my strong point; nor have I put in proper training to actually perform well. I decided to change that, I went outside my comfort zone which was long and steady racing, and delved into the realm of threshold and Vo2Max training. I did the workouts that I needed, not the ones I particularly enjoyed. Thankfully, everything paid off, as a point of reference, my finish time for NAGT Leg 1 in Subic Bay surprised most, even myself:
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| 2012 vs 2013 |
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| NAGT Leg 1 |
I continued working on my weaknesses and by the end of the first quarter, I shifted focus to Cebu. Preparing competitively for an Olympic Distance Triathlon and a half-Ironman is quite similar for me. The transition was smooth and gradual; total hours were still quite close to each other yet there was a shift in duration, frequency, and intensity. 70.3 training meant more steady miles, more recovery between bouts, and more emphasis on nutrition/hydration.
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| Tri United 2 |
I did the workouts needed to race a 70.3 well. These were not necessarily the "cool" workouts like fast "balls to the wall" bike rides, and PRs in half-marathon races etc. Instead, these were the workouts that most would rather avoid: swim time trials, 2-3 hour trainer sessions, hill repeats, and tempo runs. I hated these workouts, there were times when I was outright scared of them; but I sucked it up and did them anyway. In July, a month before Cebu; I joined Tri United 2, which was middle ground between an Olympic and 70.3. When I performed well for that race, I knew I was ready. After a few more weeks of fine tuning and adjustments. I began my taper; I opted for a short taper as opposed to a long gradual one. I was putting in a fraction of the hours I used to do, logically, I needed to taper less.
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| Building, Peaking, and Tapering.. Blurred for your Inconvenience ;-) |
Prior to the race, I did what I could do as a participant. Yet, certain things were beyond our control. When I arrived in Cebu, the weather was perfect; it was neither too hot nor too windy. There was overcast and a steady breeze, it was ideal half-Ironman weather. However, the day before the race, a strong squall surprised everyone. The wind was blowing really hard and it was accompanied by a strong downpour. Things weren't looking very good. Paired with the fact that I was planning on using a disc wheel and did not bring along a shallow rimmed wheel as backup, I was quite worried. I conceded to the fact that I had no choice, all I could do was pray that weather would be better tomorrow, and I solemnly cleared my mind of negative thoughts.
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| Zoning Out during Bike Check-in. Photo Credit: Emerson Go Tian |
Pre-race
It was still raining quite hard up until 6am. I pumped up my tires and prepared my bike drenched and cold. I put on my speed suit early to give me some warmth. Looking back, a group hug would've been nice.
The Swim
Since it was a water start, we needed to swim out around 400m out of the shore to the start line. I miscalculated the amount of time needed for this. My start position wasn't ideal but I had to play with the cards I was dealt with.
The swim was choppy, waves kept hitting us from the side. This was harder than a "head current" since it took you out of your rhythm, and sighting and course correction was done more frequently. It took a while for me to get my groove, and only started to pick up the pace midway into the swim. I wasn't happy with my time, but it still kept me within striking distance
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| Out of The Water. Photo Credit: Gregie Pamakid |
The Bike
Out of the water, I felt really fresh. Out of Shangri-la Mactan, I held back a bit and allowed my body to adjust. I gulped down a gel, a few mouthfuls of Gatorade, then I started to pick up the pace. After the Marcelo Fernan bridge, a few strong riders like Jami and Joey Ramirez, Jomer Lim etc. passed me. I stuck to my game plan and didn't ride at their pace. The really bad road conditions were quite challenging. I was weaving between the puddles and potholes and kept praying that my tires hold up to the beating.
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| Out of Shang. Photo Credit: Ana Ricablanca |
During the SRP segment, road quality improved and this was where I started to churn out the watts. I kept as aero as possible because of the strong headwind. I wanted to catch up to the ones ahead of me but I also kept my efforts under control. Since I wanted a negative split for the bike leg and not implode in the run, I capped my wattage.
Everything was going well, however, around midway into the bike leg. A group of riders caught up with me. They were drafting off one another and in doing so, completely blocked the lanes. I was faced with a dilemma: whenever I'd back off and give legal spacing between the riders and myself, another rider would slide right in front of me and I'd need to adjust again. On the other hand, whenever, I'd try and pass the group of 10+ riders, I'd have to surge really hard and would leave me gassed out. On top of that, surge after surge, they'd latch on to my rear wheel and pass me again. It was getting really frustrating. I kept my cool backed off from the pack and waited for a proper time to make a pass. The tight roads, strong wind, and short hills, made this even more difficult. Towards the end of the final SRP loop, I made my move, hammered really hard and overtook them. I needed to sustain the effort as long as I could so that they couldn't draft off me again. My gamble paid off, I had clear road for the last portion of the bike leg. I picked up the pace from the bridge all the way into Shangri-la.
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| SRP. Photo Credit: REYNAN's PICs |
The Run
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| Blazing out of T2. Photo Credit: Jaime Ang |
Off the bike I still felt great. I made a quick transition into my Newton running shoes and went out blazing. I started out with a 4 minute/km pace and finished the first 10km in a really fast pace. By the end of the first loop, I was starting to feel the fatigue. I had anticipated this in training, I backed off my pace a bit and focused on maintaining proper form and a smooth stride. With around 5km to go, I caught up with one of my training buddies Ferdi (a veteran elite triathlete and a Kona qualifier). We had our own version of the Ironwar, as we ran beside one another all the way into Shangri-la. Sadly, I wasn't the victor in this duel. with less than a kilometer to go I was on my limit. Close to cramping up and even fainting I gave what I had all the way to the finish. Despite missing out on the Lapu-lapu (fastest Filipino Age Grouper) award, I was still happy to be the second fastest Filipino Age-Grouper. Though losing out by 16 seconds was painful, I was sincerely happy for Ferdi and proud of what I had accomplished. I finished the race in 4:46:15; the fastest I've ever gone for that distance.
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| Ironwar. Photo Credit: Craig Rice |
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| Photo Finish. Photo Credit: Light 'N Up Marketing, Inc. |
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| Photo Credit: Light 'N Up Marketing, Inc. |
Post Race
The post race venue was heaven for any triathlete. After a quick shower using the Safeguard booth, I jumped into the scented ice bath. Soon after I made my way into the buffet; they served Krispy Kreme donuts, Mango "dirty" Ice Cream, Asahi Beer, Lechon, Barbeque, buko juice, and mangoes greeted us. I deserved to pig out after racing hard for several hours.
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| 25-29 AG Podium Finishers. Photo Credit: Jana Cruz |
The Podium was mostly dominated by foreigners. Luckily, we Filipinos still held our own bagging a few podium places across age groups. Fellow Newton athlete Keshia Fule of Fitness First also got 3rd in the Female 25-29 category. Triathlon is still young in our country, despite that, we were still able to give out solid results.
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| Hanging out with Macca, Cameron Brown, Pete Jacobs, and Caroline Steffen. Photo Credit: Jana Cruz |
The season isn't over for me, I've still got another A race in Enervon Activ 226 in December. This will be my fourth Full Ironman. It doesn't get any easier; but, I've learned and I'm more prepared this time around!
