Philippine International Marathon – I Tapped Out

Yes.. a DNF.. not even close… My first ever…

The day before the marathon, I felt real sluggish. I just thought it was just because of the cold swim Friday night. However, the night before the run, I felt a bit feverish. There, I got real anxious and worried about the run. I anticipated the weather to be hot which added to my anxiety. I hardly slept. With the condition I was in, I might not be able to last under the heat of the sun. Oh well, there was only one way to find out. Run it..

And so I did run it. It was not very long to confirm that I was in trouble. Just before Delpan bridge, my legs became wobbly and I was having cold sweats. It really was an unusual feeling. I carried on and stuck with my strategy with 5mins walks every 5kms. I was hoping that I heat up and eventually get past that unusual feeling but I can only run slower and slower after my first walk break. I had a longer walk break until Lawton and began running again towards City Hall and thru Lagusnilad.. that’s where I felt really dizzy and almost blacked out. Called it quits at that point, tapping out at around 11km.

While the run course took a left at Ayala Blvd from Taft Ave.. I walked slowly towards Kalaw and took a right towards Luneta Park. I can hardly stand still while the National Anthem was being sang. After what seemed to be a very long walk from Taft to Manila Ocean Park, I finally got to my car and rested.

Later that day, home alone, while my wife and kids were at the movies, my fever shot up and I felt really nauseous. I somehow managed to drive myself to the hospital. I gave samples of urine and blood and i was found that I have some viral infection… or was it...

During my 2nd day of rest for my supposed viral infection, I suddenly felt this terrible pain on my abdomen… I googled the symptoms while I was wincing in pain hoping it to be just a bad case of constipation.. but 2 hours had past, the pain was just getting more and more intense. Again alone in the house supposedly resting, I drove myself to the ER thru the traffic. I was given a couple doses of pain reliever intravenously but it was only after the 3rd dose that the pain finally subsided. I was eventually admitted to the hospital. The next day, It was found to be ureteral stone. I was able to flush it out eventually. Fortunately, CT scan showed no other anomalies in my kidneys and my ureter. Just that one tiny thing…

(with my Road ID elite and the newest hydration gadget)
Down but not out!

Can’t believe that that very tiny thing can cause so much pain… so excruciatingly painful that it took 3 different vials of pain reliever to alleviate it… Oh well, I can’t really figure out what caused this but I just hope it does not occur again… One thing’s for sure… this won’t stop me from running… well, maybe a bit of a break from running will do no harm… haha!

PIM 2010…? If I don’t have a change of hobby by that time... I’ll be ready for you… hehe

SIM – My Full Marathon Debut… + KOTR 10k…

I always find reasons to chicken out from a Full marathon… I had last minute change of heart on 2 occasions… 1st was in Botak and the other was the Milo Marathon Qualifying run. On both occasions, part of the reason was not having enough mileage.

What was enough mileage? All the marathon programs that I come across on the net says that one should have ran at least 32kms a few weeks before the marathon.

The longest distance I ran was merely a 25k and that was in preparation for the Condura Half Marathon way back in March. Moreover, in terms of run mileage, I have my lowest the past few months averaging only around 20k per week. I just picked up a bit on running the last few of weeks to prepare for 2 consecutive weekends of mutisport events which included short distance runs.

For this event, preparations was not any better. However, I got myself a few of what I consider better reasons to finally do the marathon.
1. Anniversary run… This will be a culmination event for my one year into (getting a bit) serious in running.
2. It was my birthday a couple of days back. How about Full marathon as a gift to myself. It came with a Nike Span 6 which I will break in on the Marathon itself. It goes against all the “marathon don’t’s” but my 2 other pairs are practically worn out and are way past their life span.
3. Forfeited my Singapore flight with my wife supposedly for that same morning. I guess running a marathon is a good reason to waste fare money for.
4. It would be mostly a nightrun. A perfect time to do the “required distance” for a marathon without the heat of the sun. Nightruns, much less sundown full-marathons don’t come around very often.
5. How often can anyone travel via SCTEX on foot?
6. I will be in great company with Isko and Eugene with support team, Carrey and Grace. All the takbo.ph peeps I know will be there as well.

So I took the marathon plunge…the hell with the lack of mileage... bahala na si Batman…

I came up with a strategy for my first marathon with a goal to finish below 6hours… The plan was to break the distance into 8 X 5k with an average speed of 7.5min/km (7min/km 1st half; 8min/km on the 2nd half) with 5mins walk breaks inbetween sets. With these walk breaks, we would have fresh legs to start each set.. This would total to about 5hours 40mins.

Eugene and I was good with the strategy but our coach, Isko, decided to shorten the walk breaks to 3mins on the fly. But they still averaged to 5mins because Eugene and I stalled everytime Isko tells us to resume running.. hehe

For the 1st half of the race, we followed this plan (sort of). At halfway point we were surprisingly at 2:25.. ahead of target by 15mins…

There was some discomfort on my knees after reaching this point (a chronic condition after about 2hrs of running)... I just applied liniment oil every chance I got which I think worked alleviate the pain…So, on the second half of the course, we deviated from the plan and began doing more walkbreaks after shorter period of running… 15mins run, 3-5mins walk… coach Isko made the calls… Despite this, we still got past a lot of runners who were either walking or running slow, apparently because there's no more water at the aid stations. I really feel sorry for these runners who busted their asses off in training only to be shortchanged by the organizers on the race day!! Boooh!

It was a good change of scenery at Km32.. (from pitch darkness to the lights of the toll gate) We’ve been going at it for 3:50 at this point. Still ahead of target. From my estimates, even by leisurely walking the rest of the way (12min/km), I’d still finish within my 6hr target. Having this in mind, and still feeling stronger than I expected myself to be considering the distance I've already covered, finishing below 5:30 is attainable.

Eugene lagged a bit but he was still being closely monitored by our support team Carrey and Grace and informing coach Isko how far behind he was.

Walking does not seem to help relieve the nagging pain on my knees so I figured we need to get this over with as soon as we can, so we stepped it up a bit when we run after our walk breaks.

About 2.5km to the finish we were at 4:50 on my watch, a 5hr finish would mean sprinting at a 4min/km pace…. Hmmm… just gave that a thought… An 8min/km will do… hahaha

Finished my Marathon Debut in 5hrs10mins… Eugene crossed the finish 20mins after.. Woohooo!!!!

At the finish line with Eugene, Jeff Abenina, Isko and Gene Olvis. Jeff and Gene both BDM 102 veterans finished the race under 4hrs.

Rank BIB # Name Time Distance Gender Age Group
52 319 Hermogines M. Olvis 3:54:31 42 M C
53 158 Jeffrey Abenina 3:55:26 42 M E
296 862 Franciso S. Lapira 5:10:05 42 M E
297 1126 Ian B. Clemeno 5:10:22 42 M E
398 294 Eugene Marie B. Tariaga 5:33:58 42 M E

I attribute my surprisingly great marathon debut run to the following people:

1. Coach Isko for pacing and pushing us to our limits when he felt we were slacking off...

2. Manager Carrey for the support (vehicle and hydration supplies). While most were struggling due to lack of water stations, she kept us hydrated throughout our run. Can’t thank you enough, manager! Thanks to Mary Grace for the pics (wherever they are) as well.
If you happened to pass by that white van with HardCore Team banner and asked for water… and 2 gorgeous ladies offered you banana and hardboiled eggs, that’s them.

3. Eugene for his never ending yapping for the first 32kms.. I’ve known these guys (Eugene and Isko) for more than a decade. Although we’re telling the same old stories, they never fail to give us some laughs which kept our minds off the pain and distance ahead of us. I was glad to have done my first marathon with these guys...


Adidas KOTR

We headed straight to The Fort from Subic after a very late dinner to celebrate our accomplishment. After only a couple of hours shuteye in the van, we found ourselves at the starting line of yet another run - Adidas KOTR.

Eugene and I did 10k pacing Carrey and Grace. Isko being a hardcore and part of TKO 250, did the Half Marathon.

I did a 42k and a 10k in less than 24hrs… I guess I now have the required mileage for a full-marathon…. Hehe..

Philippine International Marathon next? Why not!! :-)

Speedo NAGT 4th leg… Let’s Tri this again…

Back in June, I did the same exact course in the Animo sprint tri. I needed to get back for it to find out if I have made some progress in this sport.

I swam and biked more often since then. I swim after work about 2x a week and I made sure that I bike on a Saturday or Sunday for at least 50kms each time out. This took a lot of time from my running though. My run mileage dropped to less than 20kms a week . But I made sure that these are quality run mileage and run mostly on race pace.

Race Day..

I guess with a few multisport events under my belt, I've learned to do the worrying on the race day itself and not worry too much the night before. Else, I’d get sleep deprived on race day. I wouldn’t want that to happen on the 4th leg of Speedo NAGT at AAV.

Swim:
The pool was crystal clear this time compared with Animo; and from my estimates, only about half the number of participants on my age group. So there’s, not much blows being thrown and lots room to swim on. It’s that or I may have gotten used to the slaps, tugs and brushes with other swimmers.

It was a good swim for my standards. I finished with more than 2mins improvement from the last time. It may not seem that much but for me it’s a milestone.

All psyched up for the swim... Jonas, Angelo, Me, Norman, Jason

Plenty of room at the swim leg

Bike:
Having a bit better bike than the one I used the last time, plus the cleats; and more importantly way lots of bike mileage, I must say I did pretty well in the leg of the race.

Like the last time, the inclines of the bike route were challenging (still). I shifted to my granny gears each time I pass that portion before the turn to Acacia. I never ever shifted to granny gears before since I do my all my bike trainings on the flat roads of MOA. Having very little knwledge in proper gearing, my chains came off twice. Once while shifting to the small chain ring while on the biggest rear cog and the other when I shifted to the big chain ring while on the smallest cog. Perhaps its just my FD being out of tune. Nevertheless, despite having these chain issues, I finished the bike leg 6mins better.


@ Transition 1 after running about 100m from the pool.

T2 took longer coz I have to change shoes. This was my first time to use bike shoes on a race.

Run:
Being new on cleats and having used it only for the 3rd time, I still had my quads do most of the works mashing the pedals. As a result, it still took me a bit of time to shake off my tight quad muscles. Fortunately, Glenn of South-tri let me pace with him from km2 to the finish, constantly updating me of how much distance we've already covered.

I finished the run 5mins better that the last time.


Oveall, I competed the race with 13mins improvement from Animo Sprint tri.
The weather was a significant factor as well. It was overcast the whole time.
Completed the race in 2hrs11mins.

45 360 CLEMENO, IAN M 36 SP 0:22:50.00 1:05:24.00 0:43:02.00 2:11:16.00


Jonas, Me, Norman and Monks... all ecstatic at the Finish

I would definitely Tri this again next year to find out if I make further progress..


*Thanks to Norman's wife, Abby for the great photos!

Corregidor Aquathlon Challenge … braving the waves…

I was never anxious nor excited about this event which was totally unlike the night before my first open water aquathlon in Camaya a few months back when I hardly slept. Even on the ferry on our way to Corregidor, I was all calm and composed. Still reflecting on the great flood of 2 weekends before... But then I saw the raging waters of the swim course from a distance… then I got real anxious… probably a post traumatic stress after my Ondoy experience.

After doing a test ride, I found out that It was not all that bad... the swim course was shallow, just about 5ft when you stay close to the bouy line. I did not dare to try how deep it was 10meters farther. The course was parallel to the shore.

Psyching up!

.

The first 400m swim leg was more of a fun swim rather than competetive, everybody was all smiles braving the nasty waves. And like most of the participants, I did the swim walk swim strategy… hahaha

where are the racers?... they're pratically engulfed by the waves...

Socializing at the transtition.. hehehe.. competetive eh... we're actually trash talking.. (pic from Alman of AMCI)

Unlike the swim, the 7km run was no fun for me. I was running on all fours to make up for my miserable swim(slash walk). Running uphill half the course totally took the wind out of me. This was the part of the race where I ask myself why the hell I do this. I didn’t even notice the historic scenery around me except for the lighthouse (which registered only because that part of the course was a deviation from the main road). I was real cautious running the downhill portions. I was running right in the middle of the road for the most part to avoid the mossy parts of the road (only tour buses use the roads of Corregidor.. nice!). A spill would’ve resulted to rolling down the rest of the course. (that would’ve been faster though, but I wouldn’t want to do an ocean swim with road rashes all over).

Still managed to regain my running form for the camera.. thanks Carina!

The 2nd swim leg was walk swim walk swim swim walk walk walk walk swim walk walk walk … just like that … I was done in 55mins, surprisingly finished 8th overall and 5th among men… unofficially..

Ziggy placed 2nd finishing in 52min.

Takbo.ph aquathletes.. where's commissioner Rico?

.

After we had our free lunch, we took a tour around Corregidor. Only then I realized what I have missed while I was grinding it out in the run course...

.

Nice place! Creepy though...

Powerade Duathlon… and a Multisport long weekend..

Thanks to the holiday (Eid al-Fitr) for a truly pain-full but fun-filled long weekend.

Saturday… Row and bike (Training)

I did my usual Saturday dragonboat rowing training with my team. We did a some endurance routine 2 X 2000 and a few race course programs. Like always, it was exhausting. After cooling down and stretching, i yanked my bike from my car and off I went biking.

I only did a slow 35km with a few sprints still training for the Duathlon the next day. Just so my leg muscles won’t forget how to spin. The last 6kms, I rode while chatting away with Mel, who’s also new in biking (but a seasoned Marathoner) and Miguel Tobias, an Ironman of Team Timex. Mel and I were soliciting advise on what to expect for that distance and if ever we decide to join WRT. Same distance as Camsur Half IM. It was truly encouraging. The only discouraging part about it is the registration fee.

Sunday … Powerade Duathlon

This was the highlight of the weekend. I have been busting my butt off training for this. I have been biking for about 60kms each time the last couple of Saturdays in the middle of rain showers to get myself ready for this event.

Flashback: Clark Off Road duathlon last June left a real bad taste on my mouth. Almost DNFing that event and a lesson well learned. I did the event totally unprepared with 0 mileage on the trail with an almost brandnew substandard full suspension MTB. Sold that bike a week after the event on my disgust.

Anyway, wouldn’t dwell on that any longer.. hehe Moving on… My secret strategy for this race (like everybody else) was to run, bike and run as fast as I could. Hahaha! On the 1st run leg of 7km (2 loops), I was able to get ahead of a few people who I know to be fast bikers . On the first loop of the run, I clocked at 16+ minutes… I thought I must be running beyond my usual fast pace or the actual distance was shorter than what was advertised. I’d soon find out that it was the former…

I began to slow down towards the latter part of the 2nd loop but still managed to clock at 35+ minutes.

But this would take its toll on the bike leg. Transition was more of catching my breath and refueling which still took some time even without changing shoes.


As expected, some of the people I got ahead of in the run made me eat their dust on the bike leg, overall, the bike leg was a bit off my target. My calves began to cramp up alternately after my 2nd loop. To get thru this I mashed the pedals harder with the good leg alternately (Now I know the advantage of using cleated shoes). … then I felt both of them were cramping up at the same time… At this point I just pedaled with my feet parallel to the ground to avoid locking up my calves and hope that I get past it soon enough. I got past it alright and finished the 31.8 km bike leg at 1:02 averaging a bit over 30khp. (on my cyclocomp). I guess the heat was too much and was not part of the equation on my Saturday trainings. Still ain’t bad though.. :-)

I started my 2nd run leg walking with 1:42 on my watch, unfortunately I was walking on the wrong direction and was told to go around the transition area. Some precious seconds taken away to catch my breath. At that time of the day, it was searing hot already. The ice cold water on the aide stations sure was helpful. I stopped on every water station and poured water over my head. I was totally spent and cramped both my quads 300m to the finish. Stopped briefly and still managed to do a semblance of a run to the finish.

Completed my first road duathlon in 2:04+. Not bad at all! yay!

It was great to have met a some biking monsters from Pinoyroadies and some familiar faces of takbo.ph.

It was my friend Isko’s 1st duathlon who did quite well on a borrowed bike and for just his 3rd bike ride in years.

I went straight to Cartimar to buy myself a pair of cleats for my pedal after the race. This would be another challenge.. getting used to bikeshoes… good luck to me..


Monday – Sheerwill Cup Aquathlon

This was a simulation run for the upcoming Corregidor Aquathlon for the benefit of those takbo.ph peeps who would do an aquathlon for the first time. The actual event will consist of 400m ocean swim – 7k run – 400m swim. I did a couple of swim-runs and 1 trailrun–ocean swim- trailrun aquathlons but a swim-run-swim will be a first for me as well on the open water.Transition is always key on these events especially important on the swim off a run which could be a bit dangerous in open water. So I really looked forward to doing this activity.

Due to limited slots there were just a handful of us who joined namely Ziggy, Ellen, Raff, Jonas, James, DocT, Rico, Argo. The event was timed and marshalled by Pepsi and Carina..

I finished the course at exactly 1hour, far 2nd behind Ziggy who finished in 55mins. Lufet talaga to si lifeguard Ziggy.

The event was made possible by RicoV a.k.a Sheerwill who was the brains behind this activity and James of Takbo.ph who was very generous to facilitate the availability of the venue (pool and run course) in their posh village in Taguig and provided a hearty brunch after. Thanks Rico and James! Hope we can do this again! hehe

Sarap talaga ng feeling finishing a multisport event… be it simulations or trainings. They can be as much fun as the real event.

The Dean’s Cup Triathlon… Short but Sweet..

I had a hard time getting registered for this event since they prioritize people with UP affiliations. But after a few emails to Eric Pasion, I was finally able to get myself officially registered just a week before the event.

The event was well attended. Considering that it was originally limited to 50 slots, I heard that there were 70 triathletes who were able to register. A few IronMen (donning IM 70.3 Finisher shirts) also joined.

The event started just before 10am. The weather was perfect. Overcast the entire time. If it was sunny I don’t think it wouldn’t have been much of an issue because of the large trees providing shade on the course.

I ran the Botak 10miler the weekend before primarily to recon the bike and run routes and wondered how the bike leg would be considering the joggers and bikers along the route. It was amazing how the organizers were able to control the usual weekend running crowd on the roads. The course was sufficiently marshalled and directional signs were everywhere. Great job Eric Pasion, and Ian Alacar who has a hand on the organization as well.


750m Swim

The swim leg consisted of 3 loops of 250 (5laps) and 4 waves. 1st were women and relay participants. 2nd were participants with UP affiliations. 3rd and 4th was for Open category. 3rd wave consisted mosty of the fast swimmers who were eager to finish the event the earliest they can (obviously) and some random picks by the marshalls. I was with the last wave. There were just about 20 of us on the wave.

As always, I was tense early on the swim. I was just able to relax and get a bit of rhythm going after the 1st 250m. Anyway, I still managed to get past a few swimmers.

Got off the pool 19mins+. Been swimming more often than usual a couple of weeks before the event and I can usually manage to clock around 17mins.

Well, 19mins under duress is still ain’t bad for my standards.

Surprisingly, this time around I wasn’t at the receiving end of any kicks and slaps…


20km Bike

Like the last couple of tri’s I did, I put on my running shoes right off the pool and use them for the bike leg. Apparently, I still don’t have bike shoes. I better lurk around BaldRunner’s donate a shoe booth and hope that someone donates a pair of size 44 sidi bikeshoes. :-)

We had to run about 250m to the transition area from the pool so I think I had at least 20sec advantage over those wearing flipflops to T1 :-) . However, I still took abit of time setting up and hydrating while on T1 to make sure that I did not forget anything for the bike leg... tops… check, shades... check, helmet… check, … oops wait… my bike… hahaha!

I’m still wondering how this foreign girl ran 250m to T1 passing in front of the church on her bikinis (not the swimwear bikini). Not the usual sight for the Sunday morning churchgoers. Haha!.

Back to the bike route…. The course was great! 8 loops of 2.5km+. 50/50 Downhill/ uphill. Took advantage of the downhill portion… going as fast as 46kph on my cyclocomp but slowing down to as low as 23kph on the uphill portion. I ended averaging 29kph on the 21.45km course. The whole bikeride took me about 44mins+ to complete.

Not bad for the 2nd hand (or 3rd) Giant TCR roadbike I acquired barely 2 weeks ago. It 's definitely great to handle and responds very well compared to my previous bike. Thanks to Rayzon Galdonez for informing me about this bike being posted on Biketradesph.com about 3 weeks ago. Made arrangements right away with the seller and eventually bought it. It definitely was a great buy.

Thanks idol for the tip and for the bikefit as well…but you still owe me a pic with Monica.. :-)

Though I now got a better ‘pana’ than before, the ‘indian’ still has lots to work on.

I was putting my race face on whenever I pass Vener with Xty who was taking pictures of the racers along Osmena Rd. He got some nice shots of me on the bike like this one below. Thanks bro!

BTW, I did a pathetic attempt to draft behind Rayzon who overlapped me on my 6th loop, but the 36kph plus uphill was just way too much for me to handle. Disengaged after barely 500m. hehe


5km Run

Again took a bit of time on T2, tucked salonpas tape (freebie from Botak run the weekend before) under my bike shorts just in case my quads cramp up. I started my run 1:10min on my watch. About 10mins into the run I decided to put the salonpas tape anyway on my left quad and right calf. Wala lang.. I just want to feel how ‘potent’ it was and sayang naman yung time and effort I spent getting it from my bag and putting them under my shorts if I wasn’t gonna use them. It felt cool J…. But I think it was a placebo (ala phiten ata.. haha) effect on me as my pace got faster as I ran further. I was able to outrun a few more runners. (I prefer not to mention the gender)

I couldn’t believe I was nearing the finish already coz I still was feeling strong. After I crossed the finish, parang bitin.. I felt I could’ve run another… 500m.. hehe.… I think it was the bananacue (there was no siopao available) I munched on just before the swim leg. Sustained energy realease unlike Hammer gel’s sudden burst.

Finished the whole thing in 1:36+.

I was generally satisfied with the outcome of this race coming off 2 dismal runs the last couple of weekend events, Botak 10miler and the Kenny Rogers 15k nightrun.

This sure is something for my books.

Rayzon eventually took home the Dean’s Cup. That was a figure of speech though. He cannot take the prize home. The huge silver cup will be displayed In UP College of Law with his name etched on it (as was announced the the Race director). Incidentally, Rayzon brought along fellow Army athletes who appeared to be new to the sport. I saw him giving them pointers on how to do transitions and even showing one guy how to use STI shifters on a roadbike which was obviously borrowed. And guess what, these guys are monsters. They finished just behind Rayzon getting, if I’m not mistaken, 2,3 and 4 spots.

Congrats to RicoV, Aries who also finished the race as well. It was nice to meet fellow newbie Mel and I forgot the other guys name.. :-) See you guys again on the next tri event.


Update:

Just got the results: Placed #13.. :-) Not bad!!
http://run4change.com/2009/09/deans-cup-triathlon-results/

Botak Paa-Tibayan and Kenny Roger’s Open... Plateau’d @ 10kph...

Although, I was having a bum stomache right before the start of the Botak 10miler and my primary objective running the race was to familiarize myself with with the bike and run routes, (and the parking) for the next weekend's Dean’s Cup triathlon, It was still an event that I paid for. Thus, it should deserve a run that would make my heart pound.

Running along side with Isko, who was running off a bad cold, we initially took the run easy. I remember doing the 1st loop in 31mins, 2nd at 37mins. On the third loop, I cranked it up a bit to somewhat salvage a strong finish and elevate my heart rate abit as well to somehow get my money’s worth. However I could only manage 29mins for the final loop, finishing the 16k course in 1:37.

The KR Open was a bit better considering the difficult course running/walking the killer inclines of McKinley Hill and Bayani Roads with the nasty humid weather.

I think I have stopped and hydrated from all the water stations and consumed a lot warm powerades along the way. (Probably that’s what caused my stomach problems for several days after)

Clocked in 1:30+ on this run. I was a bit disappointed though, nothing ‘unusual’ happened inside heritage park which would’ve have significantly increased my pace. As it was, my pace remained constant at 6min/km

Can’t seem to break that 6min/km average for runs longer than 10k this the last few months. Hey why am I compaining? this is definitely because of my ever dwindling mileage on runs the last few months. I guess I have plateau’d at 6min/km.

Moreover, I’ve been biking and swimming more often lately thus taking away time from running. Well, honestly, I like it this way… it breaks the monotony of running…
Below has been my routine lately:

Monday - Rest or Weight training
Tuesday – Swim, Run
Wednesday – weight training
Thursday – Swim, Run
Friday – Rest or weight training depends on the Monday activity.
Saturday – Row, long bike
Sunday - Row, bike (or run) when i don't join events.

I make sure that I do every activity 2x a week and just compensate accordingly if I miss any. I do every activity about 1 hour except for long runs and bikerides which takes at least 2hrs. I also make sure that I still have a lot of time to spare for my kids’ homework when I come home week nights.