Posts Tagged with: "Cebu"

It’s June! Gasp. By tomorrow, I only have exactly two months of training left before Ironman 70.3 Cebu.  It’s crunch time, but, I’ll have to be honest with you, it’s also beginning to get a little more exciting.

Coach Andy tells me that, beginning this week, we start focusing on speed.  We built the mileage the past few weeks, but now it’s time to push harder and go faster.  It almost feels like I’m on a roller coaster ride, climbing steadily and slowly up toward the peak.  I’m not quite there yet, but just a few more weeks and I’ll be ready to free fall.  Weeeee!

SWIM

I swam my longest last Tuesday: 2.7km, swam easy 1.5k Thursday, then swam 2.4k with friends on Friday. I could use a lot more speed, but hey, at least, I know I won’t drown in Cebu.  Unless, of course, a humongous jelly fish swallows me up.  Okay, okay. Delete the last line. Positive thoughts only.

RUN

My nemesis has returned: ITBS.  He’s bugged me ever since I started running.  Last Thursday, after a short but fast run, I suddenly felt knee pain (a sure sign that my tight ITBS was tugging at my knee cap already).  Grrrrr!

ITBS is a recurring injury for us runners.  Once you get it, it lays dormant when you rest or train less, but once mileage increases, he starts rearing his ugly head once again.  Double grrrrr.  This time, when ITBS showed up, I told myself that I wouldn’t let him win. Thankfully, after “bringing out the big guns” to get rid of him all week, he did go away!  (Full post on exactly what I did to fight ITBS in a few days)  By Tuesday, I ran a 12k and another 10k on Thursday.  No ITBS!  Wooohooo!

Come Sunday, I had the pleasure of running 22k under near perfect cool and cloudy weather with friends, Lit, Jun and Leana. We bumped into Peter Coyuito too who ran with us for a bit.  It was a relaxed run that capped my stress-filled week because of ITB.

BIKE

> Tuesday, Coach Andy and I met in Daang Hari for my Power Meter test.  I was to bike for 1 minute and then 20 minutes as fast as I could.  All the while, we monitored the distance and my heart rate.  Aaaack, it was the l-o-n-g-e-s-t 20 minutes of my life.

After all the suffering, Coach Andy emailed me a file providing me with the recommended power and heart rate training zones for the various workouts I’ll be doing.  I’ll be trying them out this week!

> I dropped by Starting Line at West Gate Center, Filinvest Corporate City to finally get a Speedfill bottle for hydration.  I still have a hard time grabbing the bottle (As I said before, don’t laugh!) so I thought this would solve the problem.  I was right!  (Thanks to Raoul Floresca of Starting Line for the help!)

– Still a work in progress. I wanna pull this lower to make it look cleaner –

> Last Saturday, Jun, Ton, and Unilab ActiveHealth teammates, Mike, Jake, Backy, and Coaches Ani and Dan Brown, and myself set out to ride 100k in NUVALI.  (Is it obvious that I was pretty determined about making up for the missed long ride due to ITBS last week?!)

The weather was cool, even chilly at some points, and cloudy almost the entire ride.  I was a bit nervous, as I always am, at the start about all the things I have to consider—mounting, dismounting, aero position, drinking while riding, and more—but, as the hours passed, I got comfortable with the Shiv.  Maybe even too comfy because I didn’t pull as hard on the brakes anymore, stopped over analyzing my movements when I rode in aero, and—oh boy, I’m embarrassed to admit it—but, I really do think I’m falling in love with my Shiv!  If I start talking to him while I ride, then maybe I should have myself checked (although I do know a couple of triathletes who do that.)

I was so slow that I would’ve spent the entire day biking just to reach 100k!  So, we called it a day at 82k and I promised myself I’d reach 100k soon.  Um, to be exact, the next attempt is this Thursday.  As Coach Andy always tells me: You Will Do It!

Total training hours last week: 12 hours.

This begins a series of posts about my many adventures (and misadventures) as I train for Ironman Cebu 70.3 on August 5, 2012.  “ROAD TO IM 70.3” will be posted every Monday, but, if I have more to share, I may post another within the week.  This will be a countdown of sorts to race day.  A journal of my training…and all my whining (I’m not sure if you’ll want to hear this), bragging (hey, who else do I share my little achievements with?!), and learnings.

If you are a runner completely uninterested in triathlon, just sit back and enjoy.  You may pick up a thing or two to help your running or you may be inspired to try swimming or cycling or both.  At the very least, you may be entertained with the craziness of triathlon training.

If you are a triathlete, this could be a walk down memory lane as you recall the days when you were once a clueless, unbalanced, inflexible, yelping newbie like me.  Please stop yourself from laughing about my little mishaps or, worse, major idiotic moves.  If you can’t, then run to the bathroom, shut the door, let out a big guffaw, then come back to read more.  Oh, it would be great if you could drop a tip or two for myself and other readers, too.

Now, if you are a runner contemplating on getting into triathlon or hastily signed up for Ironman 70.3 like me, you’ve come to the right place!  Take this journey with me. It’s definitely merrier with more newbie triathletes thinking in unison:  “What the hell did I get myself into?!!”

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COUNTDOWN TO IRONMAN 70.3 CEBU: 10 WEEKS

10 more weeks to Ironman 70.3 Cebu. 5 more weeks to Tri United 2.  My coach, Andy Leuterio, reminded me about this early last week when he emailed me my program. Distances, particularly for the swim and bike, would substantially increase to build up for race day.  I swear my index finger was shaking when I clicked on the mouse to open Coach Andy’s file (which we’ve been tossing back and forth every week as he sends me the program on Monday and I return it filled up every Sunday) entitled: “Jaymie Pizarro’s Battle Plan.”  Total hours of training: 14 hours.

That week is over and I only hit 10 training hours.  Life got in the way you see!  That’s not to say that the week was not filled with things to be proud of or happy about.  Here are many firsts that made this week fantastic for me:

1) First time to ride alone…and I hit 65k!  (I was supposed to ride 100k that day in JalaJala with friends, but my ITBS started acting up. Aaargh!)

2) First time to drink from the internal bladder on the Shiv. (Don’t laugh. I’ve had the Shiv for over a month now, but it’s taken us (me and him) quite some time to get familiar with each other.)

– This is the straw for the Shiv’s internal bladder which makes it accessible while riding –

– Shiv’s internal bladder in the pink circle –

Special thanks to Coach Norman Pascual who allowed me to be saling pusa for a day in his bike skills session at SM MOA. We spent 2 hours going around in circles just to get me and another student, Patty, to get to drink while riding!  While I can drink from the straw, I still need to learn how to drink from the bottle!  Need more bike skill sessions!

– with Coach Norman Pascual, Jun, Rex, Monching, Patty, Tina, Dennis, Weng, and Ruben –

3) First time to attach my Garmin 310XT to the Shiv!  Got myself the Garmin bicycle mount kit (which I’ll be changing to the Quick Release Kit) and the Garmin Speed/Cadence Sensor.

– Garmin 310XT will be for the Shiv now.   I’m using the Garmin Bicycle Mount kit here, but I’ll be changing it to the Quick Release Kit –

– Attached Garmin Speed/Cadence Sensor’s three components: GSC 10, pedal magnet, and spoke magnet –

– Close up of pedal magnet –

Garmin Speed/Cadence Sensor: P3,550
Garmin Bicycle Mount Kit: P1,750

Where to buy:
Navco, 3/F Millennium Place, Meralco Ave. cor J. Vargas Ave. Ortigas Center, Pasig.
Phone: 782-5913 / 571-6716

4) First time to swim this far: 2.5k!  Woot woot!  Don’t ask me to clap though because my arms were extremely exhausted the day after.

5) First time to post on my Road to Ironman 70.3 series!  Here’s to 10 more to go before the big day!

For the first time ever, New Balance will be holding fun runs in the VisMin regions particularly in Bacolod on June, Cebu on July, and CDO on October offering only the 5Km and 10Km categories.

Registration is currently on going for the Bacolod leg until May 27, 2012 in Planet Sports and The Athlete’s Foot Robinsons Place Bacolod. The Bacolod leg will happen on June 3, 2012 at the Provincial Capitol Lagoon. All registrants will receive a race bib and technical shirt.

Image of New Balance technical shirt…

TBR REVIEW: THE GREAT LAPU LAPU RUN

Rating:

Organizers: Nonoy Jopson and race director Raffy Uytiepo

THUMBS UP:

• small-town festive atmosphere
• wonderful view of Cebu along Mandaue-Mactan bridge
• presence of pacers
• unbelievably accurate kilometer markers
• abundant water and Gatorade in long tables
• use of timing chip

BETTER JOB NEXT TIME:

• no road closure on narrow two-lane roads along with vehicular traffic
• late start – clock was being connected 5 minutes before race start
• lack of marshals – there was a spot where I had to stop and check if I was still on the race route
• Jollibee plastic cups were used at the water stations – Jollibee was not a race sponsor so why were the cups from them? This made me think twice about drinking from the stations. I drank Gatorade all the way instead.  (Note from Nonoy: Jollibee provided new, clean cups for the race and these were not recycled.)

The Great Lapu-Lapu Run was organized by the Lapu-Lapu City Government and the Lapu Lapu City Tourism Cultural and Historical Commission. I believe they hoped to showcase the beaches and landmarks of the city along the route.

– near Mactan Shrine –

Highlight of the race would have to be the beautiful Mandaue-Mactan bridge. This made the entire race unforgettable. There were several areas of improvement, such as the traffic and late start, which will hopefully be corrected in future races. My humble recommendations for next year: 1) close the road to traffic, 2) allow the route to enter the various hotels in the area, such as Shangrila Mactan and Imperial Palace, 3) encourage the locals to cheer along the route.  Get these done and the race has the potential of being a great tourist-runner’s run.

For a “tourist runner” such as myself, I couldn’t help but compare this with Cebu Marathon, my first race in Cebu. If Cebu Marathon made me feel like royalty as guest of the city, the Great Lapu-Lapu Run allowed me to experience the good and the bad, like a Lonely Planet traveler. Mind you, this was not such a bad thing.

All in all, it was an experience to remember, a thrilling adventure for a runner traveler like myself.

– assembly area –

– a runner crossing the finish –

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SLOW AND SAFE

The race started in Mactan Shrine, just a 20 minute drive from our hotel. Hubby and I got to the assembly area thanks to Amale Jopson, wife of super triathlete and The Great Lapu Lapu Run race organizer, Noy Jopson, who were kind enough to lend their househelp to watch our kids as we raced.

We parted ways in a rush as hubby and I rushed for a last minute bathroom visit. We saw Magellan and Lapu-Lapu standing before us and truly felt we were touring Cebu.

Until the start of the race, I wasn’t sure about my race plans. Fast or slow? At the very last minute, I chose the latter as previous days’ activities (read: swimming all day at the beautiful Imperial Palace) left me feeling exhausted for a PR attempt.

I was to run with hubby for his 9:1 run:walk interval training for TBR Dream Marathon. We set our Garmins to beap at 9 mins and we were off.

QUEZON NATIONAL HIGHWAY

Majority of the run through Quezon National Highway is a blur now. I know we ran by the beach, but we couldn’t see much of it. It was a run through the narrow roads of Cebu with cars passing us by. One time I almost got sideswiped by a speeding motorcycle. But, hey, I was on an “adventure” and I was not one to complain.

Every now and then, we would pass Cebuano runners who would happily greet us and we would do the same. There were a couple of times when children lined up in rows stretched out their hands for high fives.  I high-fived them back feeling  Our run:walk strategy was keeping us strong and we were doing quite well. Thank you.

– Runners in costume. Wish I was just as daring and creative! –

THE MANDAUE-MACTAN BRIDGE

Highlight of the race would have to be the beautiful Mandaue-Mactan bridge. The steep ascent was a wonderful challenge and a great workout for the quads and the subsequent downhill was a satisfying gift where I practiced my Chi Running again.

It was only at this point when hubby and I temporarily parted ways as I always find it more difficult to run slow when confronted with uphills. Let’s just say my mindset is: “Get this over and done with.” while hubby thinks: “Let’s take this slow and easy. Little steps at a time.” I think he’s doing the right thing, actually.

We had to tour below the bridge for another set of climbs and downhills before leaving this area. This was truly my favorite part of the race.

LAST 3KM

We went back to the highway again and hubby and I started to slow down. One marshal yelled last 5km only for me to find out from my Garmin that there was 7km to go. After that incident, I noticed that the kilometers went by a lot slower than I had hoped. The heat started to get more intense…or maybe it was all in the mind?

The most challenging part of the race was the last 3km. It was mentally challenging as we had passed the finish line already, only to run an additional 3km out through the traffic and heat. What made this portion more difficult was that we were forced to negotiate the roads, along with motorcycle drivers who did the same. We literally had to find our space through traffic as the narrow two-lane road was filled with vehicles.

Thankfully, hubby and I made it to the finish exhausted but happy. We finished at a relaxed 2:23, a good training adventure run for us.

– with the girls –

– with PAL runners from Manila –

After photos and chats with Cebuano runners, we headed back to the hotel for some R&R with the kids.

We just returned from a wonderful stay at Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa and a slow, easy training run during The Great LapuLapu Run at Mactan Island, Cebu City.  Thanks to Noy and Amale Jopson and Janejane Ong for true blue Cebuano hospitality!

As I catch up on the work I set aside over the brief break (and as I take time to write a more detailed post on the race), here are some photos of the fun weekend we had…

– Breathtaking view of the waterpark and beach from our balcony –

– Kids’ nth time to take on the slides –

– After our half marathon training run. I accompanied hubby on his slow run in preparation for TBR Dream Marathon –