Posts Tagged with: "Ironman 70.3"

Little Miss Bull Runner and I attended the Press Conference for Cobra Ironman 70.3. She hated her dress so she was not in the best of moods. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but contain my excitement for this highly anticipated race. Hope to see you in Cebu on August 4-5, 2012!

– with Vima (Kulit Runner), Li’l Miss Cranky Bull Runner, and Jun. Photo courtesy of Vima, Kulit Runner –

Here’s more info about the upcoming race. See you there!

PRESS RELEASE

The Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippines takes to the sea in Cebu as the province hosts its fourth staging as well as the Alaska Milk Ironkids Triathlon on August 4 – 5, 2012.

After racing in a man-made lake the past three years participants will swim in open water as the Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippines holds the 1.2-mile swim part in the sea starting at the beach of the Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa in Mactan Island.

The province of Cebu will literally host the event with the 56-mile bike ride traversing four municipalities ( Lapu Lapu, Mandaue, Cebu City and Talisay). The culminating 13.1-mile run will be at Punta Engano, Lapu Lapu City.

Race organizer Sunrise Events, Inc. promises to top the wildly successful races of the past three years assuring that that this year’s race will be its biggest, most exciting edition yet.

A huge field of 1,319 individuals and 115 relay teams from 31 countries, with 350 on the wait list, will test their strength and endurance once again as Ironman 70.3 Philippines provides another once-in-a-lifetime triathlon experience.

Alaska Milk Ironkids Triathlon on the other hand is for the youngsters. It is the local junior version of the international triathlon series, Ironman. It is open to kids age 6 to 14 years old and aims to promote an active lifestyle for kids to promote their health.

Leading the Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippines are the professional triathletes including back-to-back champion Pete Jacobs of Australia.

Jacobs, who has become a regular fixture of the Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippines, will gun for an unprecedented third consecutive victory after winning the past two editions in 2010 and 2011.

He will have his hands full against Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippines inaugural champion Terenzo Bozzone from New Zealand who won the 2009 race. Other male professionals include Fredrik Croneborg from Sweden, Justin Granger from Australia, Mathieu O’Halloran of Alaska TeamTBB Philippines who now lives in the Philippines and Jesse Thomas from the United States.

Defending champion Belinda Granger, also from Australia who is fresh from her triumph at the Century Tuna 5i50 Triathlon in Subic, aims for back-to-back titles against familiar face Bree Wee from the United States who was in third place last year. Ali Fitch of Alaska TeamTBB Philippines from Australia will also be in the mix.

The presenting sponsor of the Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippines is Globe Telecom. The official carrier is the Philippine Airlines. Media partners are MultiSport magazine, the Philippine Star and Studio 23.

The event is also sponsored by Alaska Milk Corporation, Century Tuna, David’s Salon, Intercare, K-Swiss, Oakley and Powerade. Official photographer is Finisher Pix while the host venue is Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa.

Official hotel partners are BE Resorts, Crimson Resort & Spa, Movenpick Resort & Spa, Radisson Blu.

The Ironman 70.3 Philippines has become one of the most-awaited sporting events in the country attracting thousands of participants since its inception in 2009.

For more information, check out the Cobra Energy Drink IronMan 70.3 Philippines website, www.ironman703phil.com.

Where did the past couple of weeks go?! After Laguna Phuket Marathon, a long bout with intestinal flu (yes, when you’re training for a tri 1-week downtime feels like forever), and a couple of milestones in biking and swimming, I’ve realized that I barely had enough time to stop and write this. So, here’s how training went the past couple of weeks:

SWIM

Swam my longest ever distance, 2.9k. Wow. Never did I imagine myself swimming this far. Imagine, when I did my first mini sprint in 2008, I wanted to die when I had to swim 750m.

BIKE

Finally, I ticked my first century ride off my to do list! I wrote about it HERE. Just like the swim, I never thought I could ever bike this far. Nope, not after a handful of stupid bike crashes and having difficulty riding in aero position or dismounting.

How did it feel to bike 100 kilometers?  It felt like crossing the finish line of my first marathon!  It was about achieving what I once thought was impossible.  It was about hard work, not just in those past few hours of that ride, but during all those past months combined since I got my Shiv.  It was about having this fantastic thought cross my mind once again:  If I can do this, then what can’t I NOT do?!

– Jun and I after our 100k ride at NUVALI –

I still have a long way to go with biking, but it’s been a great ride so far.  (No pun intended.)

On another note, Coach Andy conducted another power meter test on me last Friday. And it wasn’t fun at all. It was quite the opposite. It was 1 full hour of Suffering.  Yes, Suffering with a capital S.

The Power Profile Test was conducted using a Computrainer Lab unit, one of the most accurate commercially available ergometers in the market, with CS 1.6 load measurement software and Training Peaks WKO+ analytic software.  The test took roughly an hour including warmup and recovery per test of 3 x 5seconds Neuromuscular, 1 x 1″ Anaerobic, 1 x 5″ VO2 Max, and 20″ Functional Threshold Power.  (But honestly it felt like 4 hours especially since I came from swim training and we did this during lunch.)

– The start: when I could still smile –

– with Coach Andy Leuterio: the King of Suffering (kidding!) and my bf, Specialized Shiv –

– See the laptop? It showed my watts, calories, speed, distance, etc. All photos courtesy of Andy Leuterio-

The results? Coach Andy sent me a Power Profile showing my Power-to-Weight Ratio per specific test: 5 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, and 20 minutes and Power Based Training Zones based on Hunter Allen and Dr. Andrew Coggan’s book “Training and Racing with a Power Meter”, which compares power-to-weight ratios for a vast range of cyclists ranging from untrained individuals to world-class riders.

For now, my rating is: “Fair/Moderate” for 20 minutes max, “Moderate” for 5 minutes max, and “Untrained” for anaerobic and 5sec sprint (hey, that’s pretty accurate! haha) My heart rate of 170bpm is pretty high for my Functional Threshold Heart Rate.  Coach Andy told me to watch my heart rate during the bike portion of Tri United 2 to avoid bonking and to just catch up on the run.  Hey, hey, I like that plan!

RUN

Highlight for the past couple of weeks was my Run United 2 half marathon. I didn’t realize how much I missed running. It was just wonderful to go out there and do the one thing that I love and feel completely comfortable doing. At the back of my mind though, I was thinking: How the hell do I run 21k after swimming 1.9k and biking 90k?!

Wish me luck at Tri United 2 on Sunday, July 1.  It’s going to be one long race: 2k swim-60k bike-15k run! Let’s go!

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!