Race Report: Animo Sprint Triathlon, June 14, '09

Lining up to register and get body marked

Getting body marked. Still can't recall what I was looking at during this time.

At the transition area. Last minute prep.

Having a nice chat with Arnel. We belonged to the same age group.

Race briefing by Rick Reyes.

Our turn at the pool. Decided not to wear my swimcap, my head feels squeezed using it.

Crossing the finish line with a smile.

My takbo.ph buddies, Ian and Ziggy. Rico V. wasn't around yet.

It was a hot and humid early morning of Sunday, June 14. I woke up at 3:00 a.m. to get ready for the Animo Sprint Tri, a sprint triathlon with the following distances: 950m swim, 30km bike and 7K run. It was a good thing I prepared almost all my things the night before, as I didn't cram anymore looking for the things I needed for the race. Carol, my wife, prepared a good breakfast for me. She too woke up early just to feed me properly before I race....talking 'bout support. :-)

At 4:30 a.m., we were on our way to Ayala Alabang. Carol slept while I drove. At around 5:20 a.m., we were already parked. Monki, a former officemate and a first time triathlete, parked behind me. After a minute of small talk, we headed to the registration area.

There were already a lot of people registering for the race. It took me around 15 minutes to get my race pack and get body marked. I then headed to the transition area to rack my bike, put down all my things in order and meet old and new friends. I was athlete #410.

It was already 6 a.m., and my age-group's wave wouldn't start until 7:45. With almost two hours of waiting, I decided to sit it out with my wife and not waste energy roaming around.

After the race briefing by Rick Reyes. My wife and I headed out to the pool and watched the different waves start. There were a number of celebrities who raced, Anthony Pangilinan and Maricel Laxa, Tessa Prieto Valdes, Paolo Abrera and his wife Suzy and Sen. Pia Cayetano. We were amused by Tessa Prieto Valdes, she was one hell of an entertaining athlete. :-)

At around 8:00 a.m., it was my age-group's turn to start. We were the last wave to race which meant not much people were around anymore to watch us. I thought it was good as having no more wave waiting for us to finish would relieve the pressure on the swim part. I could take my own sweet time finishing the swim. :-)

The SWIM - 950meters

There were around 30 of us in our age group, including a bunch of Polo Tri and Tri N' Hard tri team members. Anthony Pangilinan and Wilfred Uytengsu belonged to our group.

When the horn sounded off, there was the usual jockeying for position resulting to kicks and nudges among the swimmers. I tried to position myself in the back to avoid these and walked the pool for around 10 meters before I started swimming. I still had to wrestle, kick someone, get kicked, nudge someone, get nudged and get held on the legs even after starting later than most athletes. I am a slow swimmer, but, there were a few who were slower than I was, I felt them getting hit by my kicks and I even swam over someone. So sorry about that.

On my second lap, I was overtaken by swimmers on both my right and left sides, so I had to breast stroke and let them pass for my own safety. When they were a good leg's length away, I swam freestyle.

From that point on, it was cruise pace for me. I stuck on my plan to walk the first 8-10 meters of the pool and then swim the rest. After my 4th lap, I was the 3rd to the last swimmer. I also discovered that I didn't turn on my stopwatch. :-(

I found my rhythm early in the swim, which was good. I targetted a sub-40 minutes swim and I was on track, in fact better. If I would put my first 200 meters at 8 minutes, I would have swam the first 600 meters at 20 minutes. I thought "NICE"!.

The last loop of the swim was a start at lane 5 of the pool. After jumping into the water on my final loop, I realized I still had the energy to have a blitz on the swim. There were 2 swimmers behind me and another swimmer was around 25 meters ahead of me. I said to myself I'd catch him up.

I caught up with that swimmer on the last lap. I even rubbed elbows with him on the last 25 meters of the swim. Got out of the water ahead of him and took my slippers from my wife who was there waiting for me to finish. My swim time: around 35minutes. Ran to the transition area feeling good. I wasn't last on the swim, my weakest in this sport.

I transitioned quickly. Didn't towel dry anymore and put on my bike shoes immediately. Gulped half a bottle of Extra Joss with Hydration salt and munched a bar of Choco Mucho...I was ready.

Bike: 30kms

I started out well on the bike, which I consider my second strongest in this sport. After mounting it, I sped up to 30kph going to Country Club Drive. I caught up with a number of athletes along the way. The uphills were a killer and I saw some athletes struggling. I took that opportunity to overtake them. Though I overtook quite a few number of racers, I was also overtaken by some.

The confusing part of the bike route were the loops. We were supposed to do 3 loops of Otso-otso, which, to someone not very familiar with Ayala Alabang, would be a big problem. I lost a lot of time asking for directions at first and even when I was about to do my last loop.

I caught up with a foreign racer on my 26th km on the bile and asked him how much he has logged in his cyclo computer already. When he told me were about the same distance, I asked him if he was in his last loop, he said yes. Good! I thought to myself. I'll just follow this guy and will get to complete the bike leg with little problem.

After about 500 meters of riding side by side with this racer, I realized he was riding slower than I was. So upon reaching the last uphills, I let it all out, leaving him instantly. Then I saw the loop-counters and said to myself I was on the right track. I've seen two sets of loop-counters 3 times already which meant I did the loops correctly.

At this point, I have already spent 1 hour 5 minutes on the bike. I was targetting a bike time of 1:10 and I was on track. At 1 hour 7 minutes, I reached the transition area. Great!

Ran my bike to T2 and changed shoes. Munched one more Choco Mucho and gulped the last Extra Joss with Hydration salt liquid I have. Didn't wear socks anymore, an error I'd pay later in the race.

RUN: 6.9K

I was feeling good at the start of the run. My legs were a bit stiff from biking but I knew it would loosen up as I run along.

After running around 300 meters, I felt the urge to pee. I stopped in one of the posts and relieved myself. My pee was clear, not yellowish as I expected. Great! I'm not dehydrated! The hydration salts must have worked!

With that development, I started running like I was running a marathon. I caught up with a number of runners, some belonging to the younger age group.

I felt stronger the longer I ran. The Extra Joss and the hydration salts were kicking in. I lengthened my strides. I started running at 1 hour 45 minutes into the race. I told myself if I could run in around 35 minutes, I would be able to achieve my over-all time target of 2:30.

I was catching up runners almost consistently. There was one runner who was more than 500 meters ahead of me whom I caught up in the last 2 km of the run, and left behind by more than 500 meters.

I still felt strong at the last turn towards Narra. When the marshall said I was 200 meters to the finish line, I gave it all.

Then I felt a stabbing pain in my feet...I had blisters already for not wearing socks!

I crossed the line in 2:20 according to my watch. Add to this the more or less 8 minutes I failed to time during the first part of my swim and I would have achieved my target. I hope I did.

Summary

Animo Sprint Triathlon was a good race but not without hitches. First, the pool was really murky. I couldn't see the pool floor clearly even at broad daylight.

Next, the otso-otso bike route was very confusing. Add to this the inadequate number of marshalls who could give you the right directions. If this race had enough guides for the racers on the bike, I would have slashed a good 3 minutes from my bike time.

Lastly, they ran out of shirts!

But even with the above-mentioned things, and considering the number of participants, Animo Sprint Tri would be one of the good races I joined. Kudos to Rick Reyes and TRAP for a job well done. Also to Ani De leon who did a good joob controlling the waves.

Thanks to my wife for keeping up with my sport and for taking my pictures. Love you very much!

Most of all: Thank GOD for letting me finish the race and for being with me always.

Next stop: Powerade Philippine Duathlon Open

See you!

Update:

I was able to achieve my target time of 2 hours 30 minutes, doing a sub-2:30 in this race:

96 410 PATALINGHOG, RODELIO 41 M 0:29:47.00 1:11:31.00 0:45:10.00 2:26:28.00

Ranking 96th out of 167 is a bonus!