Post Race : Triman Triathlon 2015

Event Name : Triman Triathlon 
Event Date : May 17, 2015
Location : Fontana, Clark, Pampanga

DAY BEFORE

We traveled to Fontana with my Team Shinrai teammate(and sister) a day before the event. After checking-in, we decided to do a recon swim at the Olympic-size pool near the hotel. After a light and easy swim, we went back to our room to prepare for dinner. After dinner, we picked-up our kits, prepared our things for tomorrow and then hit the sack at around 10pm.

 THE DAY

I woke up at around 3:45am. After gearing up with Team Shinrai outfit, we headed to the transition area for our bike check-in. Due to the unexpected rain at around midnight, the organizers had a hard time preparing the bike course. As a result, my wave which was supposed to start at 7:20am eventually started at 9am! Ouch!

SWIM

After my sister's wave which started at 6:42am, I decided to avail the free breakfast at the hotel. In no time, I was back at the spectator's bench watching how other triathletes conquer the water while waiting for my turn. Maybe because I had a recon swim yesterday, I was more relaxed this time than my first triathlon experience in this same place six months ago.

One remarkable triathlete I noticed was a member of Team Para Tri (I think) who has no lower legs. What it made it more amazing was that he was about 1 loop or 300 meters ahead of everybody in his wave! Inspiring.


Tick Tock.

The sky was blue, the sun was up and the temperature was getting higher.

When the clock hit 9:02, I and 99 other triathletes started our sardines adventure in the water. As usual, I positioned myself at the back to give way for the strong and fast swimmers in the front.

I finished the lung-busting 900m swim in 30 minutes and 26 seconds. Obviously, I was very slow but the most important thing is that I was better that my previous swim. It took me about 25 minutes for the 600m last time.

BIKE

It took me 4 minutes to prepare myself for the bike. I definitely would like to cut that into half next time. Although in reality, that long 4 minutes did not actually matter because I was not going to win anyway :)

The bike route was good and challenging. The first stretch which is about 40% of the route was fast with long gradual downhill but the route coming back was the challenge with its gradual ascent. The total opposite. I started to feel the summer heat while on the bike but the good thing was that the beautiful and big trees lined-up along the road offered their gracious shade. Let's love our trees!

I finished the butt-punishing 30km bike ride in 1 hour 12 minutes and 27 seconds. I thought I could go faster but I guess my training was not enough to have a better time. But then again, I beat my previous time of 1 hour and 20 minutes so it was still a good thing!


RUN

When I reached the transition area for the run leg, it was almost 11am and Mr. Sunshine was really awake. My legs were fresher than last time but the heat was more summer-like this time. Some portion of the route were shady but some were toasty.

I tried to beat the heat and finished the noontime 5km run in 38 minutes and 8 seconds. I was 3 minutes slower than my previous race but overall, it was a great run. I still managed to conquer the heat!

FINISH LINE

I clocked in at 2:27:01 for 66th place out of 100 in my age group. To put into perspective, I was about 23 seconds behind Onemig Bondoc of Powerpops who placed 22nd :)

Overall, it was a very good race that gave enough challenge for me at least. As they always say, you can only be good as your training. But one important thing is to always push hard to be a better version of ourselves, which I believe I was able to achieve in this race.

Watching other athletes conquer their own challenges make me more inspired and be able to witness them achieve their goals by being in the podium make me even more inspired to train even harder as well.


Thank you to the organizers (SwmBikeRun.ph) and to the sponsors. Thank you to my wife for all the support. To my Team Shinrai teammates and to our family and friends.

Congratulations to all the finishers. We are all winners! :)

And above all to our Almighty God for giving me this gift of health and strength and for everything.

[END]