Training Log # 18 - Base Building

23 Kilometers. If you asked me to run this a two months ago, it would have been a breeze and I would have gladly done the mileage with a smile on my face. Today though is a different story. During my run I simply felt like HELL. The first 13kms were a good strong pace, but after that I found myself struggling with heavy legs and foot pain. Thankfully though I was still able to finish my workout, but still I was left questioning what could be wrong.

Last months workouts were low volume to high intensity, meaning 13-14km runs were termed as "long runs" but then these would usually be done at 5:00min/km pac. Other than that, short distance intervals and tempo workouts were the main stay of the run workouts.

Two months ago, long runs and rides where there main focus of our workouts. Having 15kms be barely the warm up of our workouts.

Looking back I begin to see how the transition of condition has changed, moving from the base and speeding up things to peak performance. Now though as we begin to return to the base it feels kinda hard cause our body became somehow accustomed to the fast painful, but short spurts. I think by this week though we'll probably be able to fully transition back into these long distances.

Well I just hope it does workout like that cause the mileage from here on just keeps getting higher and higher.

Training Log # 17 - Returning back to the training grounds

Coming off training for the standard distance triathlon, I already felt the training to have been quite long and strenuous. We were averaging 230kms weeks mixed with high intensity for four weeks. Now that base building has returned, and now having it be for a half ironman, the distance has now increased to almost double. It's just plain out scary.

But after seeing how much the training has paid off during the last race. I think I'm more motivated to work harder during these next three months. I'm trying to get mentally prepared as I know this will be a tough three months for me. I know I'll be lazy, I'll sometimes want to cut my workouts short. But focus and discipline have to be the first things on my mind.

I know what I want and I know how to get it. It's now all a matter of putting in the work.

Pit Stop #1 Road To Camsur Half Iron Man - Subic International Triathlon

The Subic International Triathlon (SUBIT) was a major race scheduled for the year. This was basically an assessment race to see where we were in terms of training and preparation for the upcoming Cobra Half Iroman. Truthfully, I was quite nervous for this race. I had big expectations for myself, I've put in the workload doing about 220kms of training mileage per week. And not reaching the goals I had for myself may leave me discouraged and broken.

Race day was on Sunday and we've had a lot of rest since we were there since Friday.

During this time we took the chance to do the swim leg of the race since it was infamous for having a "deep abyss" which can scare swimmers if you weren't ready for it.

At first I was confident swimming out to the booey thinking,

"hey now where is that abyss their talking about? is this it? all i can see if the floor moving away. This is easy!"

Then out of now where like a swift wind, the floor went black. PITCH BLACK. You could not see anything and you were left to your imagination. At this point I first stopped and had hold on to the booey as if to ask my team mates  

"are we really doing this?"

But then of course we ended up doing it. It's time to MAN UP! Eventually we finished the swim and finished off our day with a sumptuous dinner.

Race Day

As it always is, I had the hardest time sleeping the night before the race and waking up even before the alarm goes off. Talk about the adrenaline right? That morning I was trying to keep calm as much as possible. Solemnity was the only thing in my mind. All I kept telling myself was,

"you've done all the work and the only one who seems to be doubting you is you"


As we started to make our way on to the starting line I positioned myself at the very left side. This way I wouldn't get eaten up by the faster swimmers since I knew whole heartedly that I'm a pretty terrible swimmer. Through the swim I was pacing quite alright, problem was I forgot to sight and I kept losing track on where I was. For two laps this kept happening so I eventually exited the water at 35 minutes. Taking into account, this wasn't too bad but I think I wasted way too much time sight seeing the under water wild life. haha

Coming up into transition one, I was shocked to see that there were no more bikes by my side. I was second to the last to finish the swim leg in our age group. DAMN was I heck a slow! I told myself though, hey this is a triathlon and not a swimming race, so lets focus on executing the bike and run stages properly now.

As I began my ascent through the hilly bike course I found myself passing biker after biker. I think this is where my weekly hill rides have started to pay off. Through out this part of the bike no one was able to overtake me and that helped boost my confidence a bit. Although, as we reached the flat part of the course three tri bikes were able to pass me. I was at awe at the majestic speed of these bikes in the flat (which really makes me want to start saving up for one).

Overall I think I had a really good ride. I finished off the 40km bike course at 1:16 minutes.

Once I started with the run. My legs felt a little heavy but I told myself to trust in them and they will turn themselves around. After about 400 meters I found myself swiftly running with a pretty good pace and bouncy legs. I was  averaging about 4:44min/km. At this point I knew I was home bound and just enjoyed the run. It was all smiles especially as I passed through the cheering crowds.My 10km time was at 46 minutes.

My final time was 2:41:35. I'm pretty happy with my finish time, taking into consideration that this way my first Olympic distance triathlon and barely my third official triathlon race. But as it always is, I know I can do much much better. There is still a lot of room for improvement and these will be the things I will focus on in preparation for next year's subit race.