The final leg of the www.SwimBikeRun.ph race series took place in Fontana Leisure Parks last May 26. It consisted of a 1k pool swim, 30k bike, and 5k run. With roughly a month to go before Century Tuna 5150, I found this to be a perfect tune up race. Aside from the swim, the course was good preparation for the terrain in Subic.
Breaking down the race, the swim started out as expected. I knew how pool races go and already had a strategy laid out. Once we were given the go signal, a few of us sprinted to get away from the pack, the intense surge often pays dividends as you save yourself from the notorious "washing machine." This plan, however, backfired as most of the other racers decided to skip the mandatory wall touch. After the hard surge, I pushed off the wall only to encounter the mass of racers who crossed the line without reaching the end of the pool. This was trouble as I found it hard to navigate these guys especially with my heart rate through the roof. I decided to be patient and find my way around; after a few more hard sprints, I was in front and decided to cruise the rest of the way.
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| Photo Credit: Running Photoraphers |
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| Photo Credit: Jana Cruz |
Transition 1 was several hundred meters away and I literally had to run to my bike. Being a "test race" of sorts, I decided to use a full aero setup despite the somewhat hilly terrain. I used my disc, aero helmet, and went all tri-geeky with a camelbak hydration system. Since this was more of a fun race for me, I decided to play around try out how aerodynamically efficient I could be. The bike leg consisted of a long downhill segment, followed by a short flat portion, then another long "climb" with an average gradient of around 4-5%. I kept myself tucked in for around 95% of the course as I wanted to build my leg strength in this position
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| Clean and Very Aggressive Setup |
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| Bike Course Profile: Roughly 270m total elevation gain. |
Being in the aero position can have it's disadvantages, lower back strain is common for those who lack flexibility and shoulders and arms tend to fatigue quite easily. Another problem is the lack of visibility when you have your head hidden from the wind. I tried out Smith Optics' new Pivlock V2 to try and address this issue. Being rimless both in the lower and upper portion of the lens, it gave me the best visibility possible. I could easily glance behind me for oncoming traffic, and also keep my eyes focused up front without tilting my head up too much. Lens are also interchangeable which gives you more options for those overcast or rainy days. Weight (or lack thereof) is also an added bonus; these are the lightest sunglasses with interchangeable lens. I had no issues with the glasses sliding off my nose or with the edge of the lens rubbing against my cheek. I'll definitely keep on using this for my next races.
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| My Race Essentials: Newtons and Pivlock V2. And Yurbuds as my training buddy (no pun intended) |
Coming into Transition 2, I still felt quite fresh, and decided to try and push the run. I found this to be quite challenging due to terrain. There were uneven portions wherein you had to hop over tree roots, gutters, and loose soil. There were also a lot of twists and turns which meant you had to accelerate quite often. Despite this, the run course kept your mind busy which is definitely better than some of the boring courses I've encountered in the past. Surprisingly, it seemed like the three loops went by quite quickly for me and I raced towards the finish chute emphatically. There, I was greeted by Mr. SBR.ph himself and rushed to the expo center to grab drinks.
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| Photo Credit: Monkey Saladeer |
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| Photo Credit: Running Photographers |
After the race, instead of chugging down on electrolyte drinks, I probably drank around 5 cups of Enervon HP and Choco Barley from Sante Barley. Something different and refreshing that I'll probably do more often.
Looking back on my race, I came from a high mileage week and still felt the load from the Tour of Subic. Since I'm focusing more on the half-ironman distance, my body now favors steady state efforts as opposed to hard sprints and short time trials. With the race wrapped up, I immediately began to analyze what aspects of my race I need to improve on. In the end, I'm still quite happy since I was able to bag first in my Age Group. The only embarrassing part is that I forgot the time my wave started and ended up blurting out the wrong finish time haha (my watch's timer paused because of the hard contact from the washing machine). All things considered, it was a great race! Thanks to Secondwind and Hector Yuzon for the slot and as always SwimBikeRun.ph and CDG for a great experience. Dapat next year may half IM distance na!
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| Photo Credit: Running Photographers |
You can check out the pictures from Running Photographers and Monkey Saladeer (Don't forget to like their pages!)
P.S. Thanks to my friends for the support and cheers! Hope you guys had a great time watching us suffer :)
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| Jona, Steven, Me, Daniel, Jon, Jana, Rashell Photo Credit: Pinoy Fitness and Jeff Lo |
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