ITBS: The downside of training

I was running last Jan. 2 when I felt a stinging pain on my left knee. I was scheduled to run 22K in preparation for Condura 42K on Feb. 7 but had to stop at 18.5K due to severe left knee pains.

I tried walking it off but after just a few seconds of relief, it would come back again once I started running. Seeing a futile effort to finish the 22K and resting to fight another day, I thought it was best to stop and make sure I won't do my knees more harm.

Going up the stairs at home was a struggle, more difficult was going down. I wore my knee support to alleviate the pain a bit but it was still there. I walked limping throughout the whole day and just looked forward to my bike ride the following day.

Early morning of Jan. 3, upon waking up, I noticed the pain wasn't there anymore. Funny, I thought, but I was expecting even a bit of the pain to still be there the following day. I prepared for my bike ride and completed a 45K spin at my favorite lap route, Club Manila East in Taytay, Rizal.

I researched when I got home. What was that pain?

Everything I read pointed to one culprit, ITBS or iliotibial band syndrome. Wikipedia describes ITBS as follows:

"The iliotibial tract (iliotibial band) is a superficial thickening of tissue on the outside of the thigh, extending from the outside of thepelvis, over the hip and knee, and inserting just below the knee. The band is crucial to stabilizing the knee during running, moving from behind the femur to the front while walking. The continual rubbing of the band over the lateral femoral epicondyle, combined with the repeated flexion and extension of the knee during running may cause the area to become inflamed."

There are several reasons pointed out by the internet on the causes of ITBS, but the most probable reasons for me suffering from it are:

1. Running on pavements;

2. Inadequate warm-up or cool down;

3. Under pronation or bowleggedness.

I have always ran on cemented roads or pavements and it took its toll on my knees. I also do minimal warm ups and cool downs before and after my runs. I guess I'm just too stubborn to do such activities prior to my runs.

I also have been using neutral shoes when in fact, I need under pronation specific shoes. I invested too much on my bike that I thought it wouldn't hurt if I scrimp a little on my running accessories, I was wrong.

But the most glaring reason which I believe contributed to this injury is the weight I gained over the holidays, which is more or less 8 lbs. I had quite a number of long runs already, and these long runs happen when I just feel like running longer than what I normally do. I would run 20Kms on a weekend with no prior runs two weeks earlier, and not suffer from ITBS. I guess my training regimen must be tweaked a bit after this.

I hope and pray that this injury gets out of the way before Condura Marathon on Feb. 7, otherwise I'll be running with knee support. No, DNS is not an option. :-)

Run safe everyone!

Deo P.

New Year, New Goals...

2009 was a banner year for me in terms of being a multi-sport athlete. I have seen and actually felt my endurance getting better and better the longer and more frequent I trained and joined races, whether these were marathons, duathlons and triathlons. My resting heart rate dropped from around 70 to 56, proof of my better physical condition. Though I have yet to go sub-2 hours in a half marathon, I have now consistently averaged 5:45 min/km in runs longer than 5K, and have improved my 5K average from 32mins to 26mins, a shade over my 25 mins, 5:00 min/km target.

A lot of friends and running and cycling buddies have congratulated me for my Camsur 70.3 finish last August 23, 2009. Though I was really happy with that achievement, I believe I could have done better. Looking back, I could have slashed more than 10 minutes off my time in the swim portion of that event. With the scrapping of the swim cut-off time, I thought it was okay to just survive the swim portion and completed it in 1hour, 14mins. My average 2K swim during trainings in pools is 52mins.

I could have done better as well in the run portion. After seeing a teammate cramping up on the last 11K of the run, I decided to stick with him and egg him on, when I still had enough in the tank to run the 21K in 2hours, 30 minutes. Though I am proud of having crossed the finish line with him, I now believe that just making sure he'd finish would have been enough.

2009 was all about joining and finishing. I was new to multi-sports and never gave myself a chance to compete. All I wanted was to finish every race I joined.

2010 will be different.

As evidenced in my last Duathlon back in September 20, 2009, in order for me to compete, I have to get out of my comfort zone. I was always cautious about cramping or "bonking" in a race that I always checked on my pace, my heartrate and over-all physical condition. I was always afraid of not finishing that whenever I feel something going wrong, I would slow down and take it easy just to make sure I'd finish. This will not be the case in 2010.

In 2010, I will compete.

After watching my Ironman videos again, I realized what competing means. Competing separates the "athletes" from the recreational sports people. Competitors give it all, participants are just in there for the heck of it. I now understand why people DNF or bonk in a race, it is the "competition" that drives them to exert effort more than what their bodies could handle. These are the athletes, those who finish with fresh looks are the participants.

With whom am I going to compete?

Myself.

Then, the others.

My competition will be my previous PRs. I will train for races with the end goal of having a better finish than my previous races. In doing this, I hope to move up my age-group's ranking and the over-all rankings as well. I have seen my finishes bring me to the upper half of the finisher's list. Now, it's a matter of breaking into the top 40%.

I will now choose my races more wisely, starting off the year with the Condura Run 42K to have a base time for a full marathon. Then an aquathlon for another base time establishment.

This year will be the first time I'm competing in a race abroad, the Singapore Sprint Series, doing the Sprint Duathlon, a 3K-run, 15K-bike, 3K-run race which may be really short but I'm sure will be really fast. I thank my brother, Russel, for registering me in such event.

The other races I have lined up this year are repeats of what I did last year, with the exception of Subic Int'l Triathlon and the White Rock Triathlon. In all these races, I hope I don't bonk or DNF en route to a better PR finish.

My first multi-sport race wouldn't happen until March 14 this year. But to be in better condition, I started doing the legwork as early as the last week of December 2009. I hope that with my "uplifted" interest in competing, I race all my races in personal record times.

Everything went well in 2009, and I hope everything goes better and faster this year.

Happy new year everyone!

Deo P.

Christmas Jam!

No, this is not about running, swimming or biking, nor this is a blog entry about gears, an upcoming event or a race report. Yes, I have been swimming, biking and running during the holidays, but writing about those would be a bore, as you'd find them in bucketfuls all around the internet.

Many blogs have been written about Christmas and what it's all about, and I decided to join the bandwagon. Before, my family and I would celebrate Christmas eve at my parent's house. This year, we decided to spend it at home, with only the whole family together. The kids opened their gifts excitedly, while Carol cooked whatever was in the fridge. It was simple, but meaningful. The best Christmas gift I got, the gift of family bonding characterized by this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_x1skVKqh8

Dani just got her new guitar, and I have not been playing for the past 7 years. What could be a better way to play than have a guitar newbie and a non-practicing guitar veteran perform together, right?

The result was not perfect, but the spirit of Christmas was.

Merry Christmas guys! And an injury-free year ahead!

Deo P.

I'm 1 year old!

September 15, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

I got up on my feet, splattered water on my face and donned my rubber shoes. It was going to be an epic day. I walked out the door after kissing my wife and kids goodbye without waking them up. The road was empty and only the curious barks of the neighborhood dogs floated through the air.

I lifted my right leg and took one giant step, then another, then another. Slowly, the steps became more and more frequent and I was running...alone in the middle of the street.

I gritted my teeth in furious agony when my lung started to expand and blew out.

Then I stopped and hunched over my knees. I was catching my breath, dizzy with sweat beads on my forehead.

I looked back and saw the skid marks of my insanity blitz... I have just ran 100 meters...

More than a year ago today, I took my first steps to fulfilling a promise I made to myself. A promise that would challenge my determination and endurance...a challenge to be a triathlete by the age of 40!

My training started a few months before my 40th birthday. I was a heavyweight at 205 pounds of more fats than muscles. I stopped going to the gym a year earlier and saw my gym equipment gather dusts and rusts 6 months after. Slowly but surely, the flat tire around my waist was getting inflated more and more as the days went by.

My only exercise was a bottle of San Mig Light being lifted from the table on to my lips several times, and it did very little to firm up my biceps nor my deltoids. Yeah, I was living a (night)life of pure indulgence and alcohol was my favorite energy drink.

Then, in a bizarre twist of events, something within me just snapped. Suddenly, I was bored and no amount of liquefied roasted malts could overturn it. I wanted out of what I was in...I wanted something new.

Norman Stadler was wincing in pain as he tried to shake off the cramps which hounded him during the run portion of the Ironman World Championships 2008 in Kona, Hawaii. Craig Alexander would overtake him and eventually win.

It was a sight that would be etched in my mind for days after watching it in YouTube.com while I was surfing the internet...and it was the "something new" I was looking for. The thought of becoming a triathlete excited me and in the days that followed, my journey to multi-sports began...

November 22, 2008: 5:30 a.m.

I was at the starting line of Race For Life 2008 5K marathon for my first ever race. I was nervous and stiff the whole time just before the gun start.

+/- 200 lbs on my first race, Run For Life 2008

I was expecting to finish between 40 and 45 minutes and was grinning from ear to ear when I crossed the line in less than 33 minutes. I was pumped and looked forward to running the Milo National Finals the week after, in the 5K category of course.

Milo Marathon 2008 was my baptism of fire to BIG organized marathons with roughly 20,000 runners pounding Roxas Boulevard. Some ran to race, some to socialize and some just to pass their PE class in school. I finished the race in almost the same time as my race a week earlier.

December 2008 was a no race, training month for me. I rode my bike more and started getting familiar with swimming. I must have been crazy wading at the Ultra pool at 8 in the morning with temperatures of 23 - 25 degrees. It was also the first time I felt the pain of going up Sierra Madre on a bike. It was a month of realizing my greatest weakness among the 3 disciplines of triathlon...I didn't know how to swim properly.

In the weeks to come I would try teaching myself how to swim correctly, a futile effort. I instead encountered frustrations and embarrassment everytime I try to cross the 50-meter length of the Ultra pool. Undeterred, I enrolled in a swim class that would start in February of 2009, just in time for my first planned triathlon race in April.

I continued biking and running in January, 2009. I ran my first 10K marathon at the PSE Bull Run and finished in sub-1 hour or 57mins, 35 seconds.

Towards the end of January, I joined my first ever 15K marathon, The HAPPY Run, a race organized by Drew Arellano, a triathlete himself. Finishing the race in 1:26 put me on ecstasy mode, I was getting faster!

From January to March, I joined a 10K, two 15Ks and a 21K marathon which saw me running on the Skyway with thousands of other runners. It was my first half-mary, and what better way to do it than run above the Skyway while the sun rose. Amazing! The organizers of that race, Condura Run, did a great job in giving runners something new. I myself had something new in that race...the stabbing pain of "side-stitch' which hindered me from achieving my sub-2 hours goal for a 21K. Though I was looking at doing sub- 2:15, I changed my goal from generous to aggressive when I completed the 1st 10K in 56 minutes. Lesson learned: Learn how to avoid side-stitches!

The last week of March also saw me compete in my first ever duathlon, the Powerade Philippine Duathlon Open. It was a complete thrill for me to run and bike with the country's top duathletes and triathletes, and it was my first time to eat dusts from the more veteran competitors, and it didn't taste good. I needed more training!

Trying to catch up with other riders during my first duathlon

After religiously following my swim schedule, I plunged further into multi-sports by registering and competing in TRAP's mini-sprint triathlon offering in Ayala Alabang in April. It was again, a whole new experience for me. I realized that in triathlons, mere guts wouldn't take you to the finish line, you need the skills first. As I was making my 2nd lap in the 50-meter pool, a swimmer on the 3rd lane took a stroke and the water splashed directly into my mouth as I was breathing in, causing me to choke and hang on to the lane line. I panicked and lost my rhythm. A more experienced triathlete would have just took it easily and continued on, I didn't. I finished the 350 meter swim, 12K bike and 3.5K run in 1:06, not last but definitely far from the finishing times of the stronger competitors.

That finish would dictate my training schedule. I swam, biked and ran more often and with higher intensities.

May 6 was one of my most memorable day this year. My father-in-law, who had been paralyzed for 10 years, passed away. When he suffered a debilitating stroke in 1999, my wife and I decided to have him, with my mother-in-law, stay with us in our house. In the morning of May 6, he passed away peacefully, nobody in my household even noticed he wasn't breathing anymore. Our househelp just found out he was dead when she was about to feed him his morning snack.

I was registered to run the Botak Paabilisan 21K that weekend. When my father-in-law's body was cremated a day before Botak, I hardly had any sleep, and was in doubt on starting the half-marathon the day after.

Saturday night at 9:00 p.m., I decided to run.

It was one of my toughest races, primarily because I wasn't 100%. I was at 1 hour and 45 minutes into the 17th kilometer of the race when I bonked, a condition I felt for the first time. Though my lungs could still manage to run, my body just gave up. I couldn't run and walked the remaining 4 kilometers leading to a 2:19 finish, my worst.

June came and I was back to my competitive self. There were two races I was setting my eyes on, The Animo Sprint Tri and the Powerade Duathlon 2nd leg. I managed a 2:26 finish time in Animo and a 1:55 in Powerade Duathlon, and ranked respectably in the finisher's list. I was happy with the progress and set my sight on Camsur Ironman 70.3.

Crossing the finish line all smiles at the Animo Sprint Tri in June 14

With Javy Olives of Team Super during the Powerade Duathlon 2nd leg

The whole month of July was a no-race, all training month. Every triathlete in the country eyeing a good finish in the inaugural Ironman event in the country littered the swimming pools, running places and biking routes in Metro Manila and probably the whole of Luzon. Nobody wants to come unprepared for the "ultimate" race of the year.

In August 23, I toed the starting line in Lago Del Rey, Camsur Watersports Center, with 409 other triathletes who were all hoping to cross the finish line. The 1.9Km swim, 90 Km bike and 21 Km run wasn't a joke, and it was a test of not only one's physical strength, but also of one's mental toughness.

Camsur 70.3 was a race of agony, pain and ecstasy for me. It was scorching hot during the bike and run, and for a brief moment then, I was about to give up. But the recognition of being an "Ironman" plus the substantial registration fee I paid, plus all the months of training, was too much for me to just say "I quit!". As my good friend Retzel Orquiza have said "With everything that we have done and paid for for this race, DNF ( did not finish ) is not an option.". So at the 7th hour and 20th minute of the race, I crossed the finish line with my teammates Pastor Ernie Catanghal and Melvin Fausto. It was the pinnacle of my multi-sports journey, to be referred to as an Ironman.

Gritting my teeth as I left T1 for the bike portion of Camsur 70.3

Though my body ached for almost a week, the roads saw me training for my next race less than a month after. In September 20, I ran away from the starting line of the 3rd leg of the Powerade Philippine Duathlon Open, which would prove to be my fastest race for the year. I ran the first 7.1km run in 38 minutes, biked the 32Km course in less than an hour and completed the whole race in 2 hours 25 seconds. I was 57th among more than 140 competitors and was only behind by 3 minutes from a good friend Noel Padrigon, who normally smokes me by more than 10 minutes. It was a great last race prior to Ondoy, a typhoon that brought havoc to my family and training.

Running a strong first 7.1Km at the Powerade Duathlon OPen 3rd Leg

My 40th year on earth had been blessed. I turned from a literal couch potato to an Ironman due to sheer determination and resolve. I have done 7 marathons, ranging from 5K to 21K, 3 duathlons and 3 triathlons and finished the holy grail of it all, an official Ironman 70.3.

As I turn another year in my life, I cannot help but to look back to the past and analyze how the year turned out the way it did. There was one person that was common in everything that I have done, from training to races, from morning until night, from pain to complete recovery, from getting down to standing up again...Carol, my beautiful and ever-supportive wife, who single-handedly managed to keep everything intact while I busied myself, was there. I love ou very much!

In all that has happened, God always played a big role. From the very moment I leave the house to train or to race, He was there. There were several times I had close calls with Hades but He always protected me. When I had my first BIG crash along Aurora Blvd. when two jeepneys sandwiched me and a 3rd one almost ran me over, He was there embracing me...Praise you, O Lord! And may You always protect us from harm....

I will turn 41 four days after I have completed writing this entry, but to me, and probably for others as well, AGE IS JUST A NUMBER. I have never been so fulfilled and happy in my life. There is a saying that Life Begins at 40...in my case, it DID! and I just turned 1!

Moving On: Sweating it out again

The past 30 days saw me go through the toughest part of my life. Ondoy left us full of mud ( literally! ) last September 26. Just when I thought that we were done with the devastation this nasty typhoon brought us, I was admitted at The Medical City last October 10 for leptospirosis, a bacterial infection I got from wading in the floodwaters stricken with rats' pees....eeeewwwwww!

After getting out of the hospital last October 14 and getting some rest, I was back at the office last October 19. Though I still felt a little weak coming from my bout with some vermin's urine, I thought that going back to the office was the best way for me to get back on track and get stronger after the 3-day, 40-degree fever and horrendous diarrhea sapped the athlete out of me. NOT!

I craved for the road, and needed to release some endorphins and have that feel-good moment.

So, in October 20, I RAN.

It was great pounding the pavement again, but sad to feel like dying and gasping for air after running 4 kilometers when I used to run 20 kms during training and still have enough strength left to lift some weights. It was frustrating to clock 33.46 minutes for a 5K run when my worst PR for a 5K is 32 minutes flat!

So I abandoned the idea of running and postponed it until after I really recovered from the damn rats' pees.

Then... I saw my bikes! My beloved bikes...staring me in the face...

I placed my roadbike on my bike trainer and tried spinning for 30 minutes....heavenly!

From then on, it was spinning on the trainer until I get my running legs and lungs back.

But after getting bored with watching TV while cycling, I decided to take my bike on the road. Fortunately, Rico ( Korix in pinoyroadies.org ) organized a Pasig PR riders ride and meet last October 25. The idea was to do 30 kms around the Valle Verde 2 loop which covers C-5, Julia Vargas and Lanuza. Each loop was around 2.2Kms.

Meet up point was Mcdonalds Tiendesitas at 6:15 a.m., ride out was by 6:30 a.m. The meet was well-attended. There were more than 10 of us.

With the PR guys after the ride, having breakfast and coffee

L-R: Doc Dennis, Emjaybeltran, LItoBen, Jim, myself and Gadjie

Before riding out

The ride started out at a leisurely pace, say around 20-23kph. After doing around 2 laps, Alfred Racho ( of Team Sunkist ) and I broke away from the peloton. I hang on to Alfred for about 3 laps or 7kms, but then, the headwind started blowing at Lanuza St. which drastically slowed me down. Alfred had it better with his tri-bike, an Argon 18 with HED components including the wheelset, what a beauty! He slowly put a gap between him and myself which swelled to around 300 meters. We started at around 36-38kph and he was almost able to maintain that speed while I slowed down to around 32-34kph. I saw him join the peloton again.

After doing 26 kms around the loop, I decided to catch up with the peloton. Once I was back in the pack, Doc Dennis and I had a good conversation which actually slowed us both causing us to lose sight of the others.

After doing 30kms, and seeing Mcdonalds again, it was breakfast time for me. I had a good ride after a month. Though I skipped the hill repeats at Ultra, I know I'm back from sickbay.

The breakfast with the guys was priceless. Though I have ridden with most of them for the first time, it was as if we knew each other for quite some time already.

At 9:30 a.m., I head back home with Emjay and Jim, taking the Ortigas Extension route.

I rode a total of 43kms that day, but that 43kms is by far the most enjoyable ride I have ever had.

Can't wait to ride with the guys again!

Deo P.

Typhoon Ondoy: Faith, Love and Survival

I didn't know at first whether I can write something about a tragedy that my family has gone through. Typing the first few words of this blog was a struggle, a struggle to be objective despite the memories of the ordeal I and my family went through during the wrath of typhoon Ondoy.

Typhoon Ondoy wasn't a strong typhoon. In fact, most people I talked to didn't even know it would hit Metro Manila, and hit it hard. It was just an ordinary typhoon, the kind which most people, including myself would just sleep off and won't even allow to alter the schedule of activities we have lined up for the day.

I was supposed to be on my way to Caleruega, Batangas to attend a two-day weekend company seminar, but decided not to participate as my wife, who had just undergone an operation to remove a cystic mass on her right ovary, was to visit her doctor for her follow-up check up last September 26.

I was supposed to run in the morning of September 26. I was preparing for the Asian Duathlon Championships in Subic to be held on November 15. With non-stop rains from the Friday night continuing on til Saturday morning, I was left with no choice but to ride my bike on a bike trainer and thought I could do brick trainings the following day.

I completed my bike workout around 9:30 a.m. Was about to hit the showers and get ready to leave the house for Medical City for wifey's check-up when I thought I'd better take a look outside and see what the non-stop rains had done to our village.

Upon opening the gate, I was greeted with calf-deep water on the road, 1/4 of my car tyres were submerged in water already. No worries, I said, as this happened before and water just stayed that high before finally drying up. I went inside and removed my bike shoes and changed my shirt.

Some neighbors informed us that water was rising and I had to move my car to higher ground. When I checked, it indeed rose! Half of my car's tyres were submerged already. I went inside to get my car keys and moved my car to the vacant lot in front of my house which was about 3 feet higher than the street.

I told my wife we wouldn't leave anymore as water was high, and would probably be higher on the streets going out of our subdivision.

At around 11:00 a.m., I was again informed by my neighbors that I needed to elevate my car again. Water already reached half of the rear tyres which meant an increase of about 1 foot from less than an hour earlier. Water also reached our garage, where my wife's car was parked. With the help of some neighbors, we jacked my car a bit to elevate it by about half a foot more. Going back in my house, I also jacked up wifey's car to about half a foot as well.

At around 12 noon, water breached the 1st floor of my house and was rising fast. I immediately carried my LCD TV to the 2nd floor. We are not yet done paying for it.

1:00 p.m. and water was already around 1 foot inside my house. My car was half-submerged already and although we tried to elevate it further, gave up after realizing we couldn't do anything anymore. Driving it to higher grounds outside the subdivision wasn't possible anymore, as putting it at street level would put the flood waters on it window level.

2:00 p.m., water was up to my knees inside my house. At that point I realized it wasn't an ordinary flood. I asked help from the neighbors to help me lift my refrigerator. My "kumpare" Enjie dropped by hoping he could still plug the bathroom bell-traps in our 1st floor to avoid water from seeping out, he was too late. I asked him to turn off my swith breaker instead as the outlets were already breached by water.

3:00 p.m., water was leg high inside our house and almost waist deep outside. It was rising fast. I remembered our 2nd floor not having a fire escape. I tried looking for my steel saw and couldn't find it. Went out to borrow one from the neighbor, they couldn't find theirs as well. Went to Enjie's house which was about 5 blocks away to borrow his. On my way back, I was surprised that the water was already belly-button deep. I stand almost 6 feet, it was already too high for people smaller than I am.

I asked my next door neighbor if I could evacuate my family to their house, their house has 3 floors.

3:30 p.m., I started evacuating my family one by one. I had a styrobox I use as a cooler during parties in the house. I put my 5-yr old daughter, Keidy, inside. It floated. Great! I pushed on the styrobox while my eldest, Dani, hang on to my shoulders.

I carried Collete, my 10-yr old, on my shoulders and we made our way through almost chest deep of water to the neighbor's house.

I held on to Carol, my wife, by the waist. She had her wound all taped up just to make sure water wouldn't get inside. With my motherr-in-law behind us, we all made it safely to the neighbor.

I went back to the house and closed the door, then made my way up to the 2nd floor.

Water was still coming out of the faucet and I took advantage and showered.

Inside our bedroom, I could see what has happened to my car:

Only the roof was visible. By this time, water on our streets would be around 6 feet.

At around 5:00 p.m., flood waters inside our house was around 5 feet already, reaching the last two steps leading to the mezzanine.

Then at 7:00 p.m., it reached the 5th to the last step of the stairs going up to the 2nd floor. Water was rising by an average of half a foot every hour.

By 8:30 p.m., water was already at the last 4 steps of my stairs going up the 2nd floor. At this point, I decided to cut the grills of my 2nd floor window to make an emergency escape. Horrible thoughts started going on in my mind. What if water reached the 2nd floor, or even the 3rd floor of the neighbor's house where my family was staying? How could the kids make it through the water? How would they float?

After sawing off the window grills, I gathered all the back packs, styrofoams and beach balls or floaters I could find. I found 4 backpacks but not enough floaters. I remembered seeing beach balls downstairs and immediately changed into swim shorts. I dove into the floodwaters and tried feeling the un-inflated beach balls in the pitch dark water. I found one and a bottle of Sprite, but still, it wasn't enough. I dove again, this time down to the part of the floor where I last saw the bag of beach balls. I found it! Swam my way back to the stairs immediately.

I lost no time inflating the beach ball and cutting half of the styrobox which I put Keidy into, then started inserting these into the back packs thereby making floaters for the kids.

I tested each of the back packs in the water, and damn! it was so cold. I wore the back packs at the front and back trying to see which was the best way it could be worn by a kid who doesn't know how to swim. I figured wearing it at the back was the best way, wearing it at the front can cause any kid to lose balance and fall on the side, having a great chance of losing the back pack.

After tying the back packs together and putting these beside the window where the grills I sawed off earlier, it was all waiting time. I sat on the stairs and watched the water rose millimeter by millimeter, praying while watching.

All I prayed about was my family's survival. The kids were still very young to be at harm's way. I was ready to go, I have lived a full life, but them...my tears fell...

The reason I worked hard all these years was because of them. That night, I promised myself I'd bring them to safety even if it would cost me my life. I planned my move at any probable stage the flood would get us. Once water reached our 2nd floor, I would get out of the window with the back packs tied at my waist then swim my way to my neighbor's 3rd floor using my swim paddles. Once I get there, I'd put the back packs on my kids and wife, tie their back packs in a line, and tow them to safety as hard as I could, at the extent my strength would allow. I love them, and that's reason enough for me to make sure they survive this tragedy.

At 10:00 p.m., floodwaters stopped rising. I sighed in relief. Little by little, it started going down, one millimeter every 30 minutes. I waited until water has gone down even by half an inch before I started getting some rest. But even then, I would get out of bed every 15 minutes to check whether water was still going down.

At around 5:00 a.m. of Sunday, water has substantially receded, but still was around 6 feet inside my house and around 8 feet outside.

I was running out of food. I only had 4 pandesals, 2 cups of rice and a few fried okra and talong with me. At 8:00 a.m., I heard my wife called out to me from my neighbor's house, asking me how I was and telling me there was food at their side but didn't know how to get some to me.

I was getting hungry and tried thinking of a way to have food transported to me from my neighbor. I saw the roof of my neighbor's sari-sari store. It was just beside the firewall separating my house from theirs. I asked them if they could send someone to that part. When they said yes, I started tying a sheet of fabric to a small back pack. Once there was someone already at the roof of the sari-sari store, I would swing the back pack to him and let them fill it up with food and they would swing it back to me. This was how we transported stuff from and to each other. It was probably a sight to look at.

5:30 a.m., Monday, September 28, water receded to ankle deep inside the house. For the first time in three days, I had a glimpse of the devastation Ondoy has brought to my household.

After getting down, I tried opening the door but was unable to. It swelled and tightened itself up, making it almost impossible for me to open it from the inside. I shouted for help, and immediately, a neighbor climbed up the gate and started kicking the door from the outside until it opened. My mother-in-law was already waiting to get in.

The first thing I did was to clean up the oven and try making it work. Situations like this always result to lack of food and water. By making the oven work, we can boil water thereby taking care of drinking water problems. After cleaning and drying the oven up, it worked. We were then left with food problems.

My mother-in-law heating up the oven

My 1st floor was a pile of wet furnitures, appliances, kitchenwares, glasswares and MUD. Each room has a story to tell. Things piled up on top of each other, a total mess.

My bike room

More of the bike room

The children's playroom

My living room

Living room from another angle

The dining area

My wife's car

My car, swept away to 20 meters from our house

Our street, with my house in the foreground

Relief goods were flown in around 10:00 a.m. of Monday, but I could only count around 5 bags getting dropped. People expected more.

Military personnel visited us on Tuesday trying to help any way they could.

Once water fully receded, the mud problem was evident

Our small business of Christian shirts took a grounding halt. All these were given out to neighbors.

My wife's relatives from Marikina who weren't affected came by to help us clean.

I left the house on Tuesday morning to try find some food. After walking around 2 kilometers of mud and stagnant flood waters, I was able to find a vendor selling freshly slaughtered chicken. There were 3 chickens left and I bought it all. Then an elderly woman asked me if we could split it as her family also had nothing to eat...I gave her one.

It would take 2 days before we could get most of the mud out of our house. By Wednesday lunchtime, electricity was back. For the first time after 5 days, we learned of the extent of the devastation through the radio, and also heard that another typhoon, Pepeng, which was stronger, was threatening to victimize us again.

I called up our office to ask if there was a spare car I could borrow and luckily, there was. I took a shower immediately and commuted to the office to get the car as well as additional relief goods and medicines.

My mother's house was also submerged and they evacuated to MMLDC in Antipolo. My brother works in Meralco and enjoys a discount on the room rates there. Upon learning that typhoon Pepeng was coming, I asked my brother to reserve a room for my family for the weekend or until Pepeng has passed. The kids have had enough and I wouldn't want them to go through the same ordeal again.

We left the house at 12:00 noon of Friday for MMLDC. My househelp's family stayed in our house while we were away.

There was a sigh of relief from everyone after we checked in at the hotel. The dry room and beds, the fresh linens and the safe environment were all what we needed after a week of chaos, devastation and exhaustion. The hot showers were soothing.

The kids slept like little angels. My wife and I took that opportunity to plan the rest of our lives. What were we going to do after this? Do we sell the house and live somewhere safer? The answers are kept hanging as we tried to rest and get some much needed sleep.

Fortunately, and with all the prayers, typhoon Pepeng didn't affect Metro Manila the way Ondoy did.

We went back home on noon time of Sunday, October 4. Our house was showing signs of normalcy. Most of the floor were dried up and only the garage, where most of the cleaning was being done, was the only place wet.

We went through a very tough ordeal, but not tough enough to break our spirits. The kids still carry the trauma of what had just happened, but, I'm sure in time, they will forget about it.

People's lives changed in the afternoon of September 26. We all were reminded that people are no match against the wrath of nature. Insurance companies refer to what happened as an "Act of God", but, why blame it on God when people are the ones who laid waste to the environment?

Everytime I get home from work, I would always tune in to the news. This time around WE were the news, and its something I wouldn't want to be a highlight in.

Filipinos are resilient. We still manage to smile even in the worst of calamities. Does that make us numb? No. It just makes us capable of bouncing back. However, the true essence of bouncing back is the realization that something needs to be learned from everything that all of us have gone through.

Help came from unexpected sources during this ordeal. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU very much. There are a lot of you who have gone out of your ways to extend a helping hand, and rest assured we will repay you in whatever way we can, hopefully, not in similar situations.

Up to a point last Saturday, I tried to save the material things I have collected through the years of hard work. When things became almost hopeless, it was purely a question of survival. In desperate times, GOD will always be our resort. It is HE who nurtures us when our spirits break down. He holds us and looks over us and keeps us safe. He allows us to love, so that in loving we become unselfish. It is with loving that we live and by living we learn to survive.

For as long as God is with us, no Ondoys can break us...

Deo P.

Race Report: Powerade Duathlon 3rd Leg

I have done the first two legs of the Powerade Duathlon but something in the 3rd leg just kept me excited. Probably it was because this race would be my first after Camsur 70.3 and a real test of how I improved race-wise...if I have improved at all.

The run and bike routes of this race was similar to the 2nd leg, only 1 loop more in the bike portion to complete the 30K published distance. I have completed the 2nd leg in 1 hour, 55 minutes and expected to finish the 3rd leg in about 2 hours and 5 minutes given the longer bike portion.

At around 5:00 a.m. of September 20, I was already parking my car at Mcdonalds Macapagal. There were quite a number of participants already, some new faces and a lot of familiar ones. Met old and new friends from takbo.ph, pinoymtbiker.org, tri-pilipinas and pinoyroadies.org. Also met some friends I made in the previous marathons, duathlons and triathlons I joined. The beauty in competing in these types of races is that not much people join unlike in marathons, so you almost meet everybody the more you join.

With Doc Randy of Pinoyroadies.Org

With Pinoyroadies guys ( photos courtesy of Ronald )

Around 6:25 a.m., everybody was given 10 minutes to complete their pre-race warm-ups, then we were called in to the start line. As expected, the gun sounded off when most were still chatting. I knew this would happen so I avoided any conversation with anyone before the race started.

I stayed in the middle of the pack at the start, then slowly made my way towards the front to escape. I planned this before-hand. I didn't feel comfortable running with many people around me and thought I'd sprint early to escape the pack. I eventually did.

I ran the first kilometer in 4:58, thus keeping myself in front of many others. It was cruise control from thereon.

Race start. Trying to escape the pack early. ( photo courtesy of Javy O. )

I planned on running at an average pace of 5:30 for the first run. That would put my first 7K run at 38:30, good enough to get me within my target of 2:05 for the race.

I finished the first run portion in 38:43, slightly off my 38:30 target because of the extra 200 meters of the course. I must have been doing well when I caught up with my friend Noel at the transition area. For the record, I haven't been able to catch Noel in the transition from the very 1st edition of this race. He was always ahead of me by more than 2 minutes entering T1.

Keeping a strong stride throughout the first run ( photo courtesy of Javy O. )

Noel and I mounted our bikes at the same time. He accelerated so fast that before I even made the right turn going to the bike course proper, he was already 20 meters ahead of me. Lesson learned: Never, ever pace with a man who's just got a Cervelo Soloist!

I kept an eye on Noel. For as long as he's not more than 500 meters away, I'm fine that he's ahead. I kept an average of 33kph all throughout the bike portion. Noel was pulling away from me but not as far as the first 2 legs of this duathlon.

Upon making my 3rd loop on the bike course, a familiar voice came from behind..."Sir Deo..."...It was Makoy, a friend from pinoyroadies.org. I didn't expect it! I knew I was ahead of him by more than a kilometer during the first run and now he has overtaken me in the bike. I was at 35kph when he passed me by, he might have been doing more than 40 kph! I tried to keep pace with him, but to no avail. I could see him getting farther and farther away but I couldn't do anything. He really showed what a true cycling "halimaw" was.

I felt my calves cramping on my last loop. I shook it off, drank my anti-cramp and dehydration elixir and pushed on with the race. I pedaled flat the rest of the bike course to avoid the cramps and entered the transition area around 8:20 a.m. for the 2nd run. My total time then was 1:37. I averaged 33 kph in the bike and completed it in 57 minutes. Then I realized I had a shot on going sub-2 in the race!

It was pushing and digging deep from thereon. I had to stretch my calves 200 meters into the 2nd run just to avoid the cramps, then baby-stepped the next 200 meters to get my rhythm back.

I saw Makoy around 300 meters ahead and pushed on, catching him before the run turn-around. Noel was just around 300 meters ahead of us.

Then, a bad break...

I turned around too soon, missing the bracelet being handed out at the turn around point. I had to go back 15 meters to get it and that's when Makoy put the lead on me. He was just 30 meters ahead but seemed to have gotten his strides back. He matched my pace, even pulling away further by a few meters at a point.

300 meters into the finish line, Makoy was around 20 meters ahead of me and my time was at 1:58. I can do 100 meters in 30 seconds and that's when really pushing for a sub-2 hours kicked in. I pushed and pushed, gritting my teeth due to pain. I didn't stop at any water stations anymore, I needed to break 2 hours.

100 meters to the finish line and I was at 1:59. Makoy would finish at sub-2, I wanted to also. 30 meters to go and I saw Makoy crossed the line, I gave it all.

I finished in 1:59:47 according to my Garmin. Though I would have been too elated, I'm waiting for the final results.

Painfest on the 2nd run ( photo courtesy of Javy O. )

I held on to a post after the finish line. I was huffing and puffing like a dog. I never raced as hard as this one, not even in Camsur. I was proud of myself. I now understand what "push" and "digging-in" means. I just raced my fastest duathlon and I'm so damn happy about it.

Congrats to all who joined and finished. Thanks to Javy and Ronald for the photos. I got news that a final leg will be held in December. Expect me to be there as well.

Deo P.

Update: I just saw the results today. I missed sub-2 hours by a measly 25 seconds....oh well....:-)