From Zero To Hero
“Are you crazy?” my friend Raeanna said last December when I asked her to join me in a triathlon in
A triathlon is an endurance sports event consisting of swimming, cycling and running. It’s so tough some of the early triathlons were known as Ironmen events. It is normally not enough to be proficient in just one event. Triathletes must race each stage in a way that preserves their energy and endurance for subsequent stages held back-to-back. Additionally, a competitor’s official time includes the time required to “transition” between the individual legs of the race, including any time necessary for changing clothes and shoes.
Though I had been into all sorts of endurance sports all my life, competing in a triathlon can’t be a spur of the moment decision… especially when you’re past 40. But competing in one had always intrigued me and, you might say, at the top of my bucket list of things to do.
So, when my good friend Euan Marshall announced that he was getting married to Margaret Hernandez in
ABS-CBN Publishing’s chief, Ernie Lopez, an extreme-sports aficionado, recommended as coach Ige Lopez, entrepreneur-owner of the locally made jersey brand Transition One and one of the country’s top rated triathletes. Ige is known as a sort of miracle worker, a zero-to-hero trainer who transforms novices into athletes. Some of his students include business executive Fernando Zobel and Nina Huang, wife of Rustan’s heir Anton Huang; he trained both for the 2006 and 2007 New York Marathons.
The training started December (with a 3-week break for the holidays) and consisted of running twice a week, a long distance run during weekends (usually 10-km races), swimming twice a week with another coach, Ria Langit, and once a week spinning classes. I’m not fond of biking and actually started biking on the road in March. Ige warned us that training is no joke and emphasized the importance of commitment and consistency.
He was right; commitment was a really big issue. It was difficult to combine 8-10 hours per week training with work and after-work commitments. I was physically exhausted and tired with the training. I would go to bed as early as
Patience was another issue. The mileage buildup was slow and specific. I had to learn the skills and likewise build endurance to avoid injury, particularly knee injury and rotator cuff tendinitis. For someone as impatient as myself, this was a humbling process plus the fact that I had to follow whatever the coach says.
Our general fitness level improved and we actually could run or bike more than an hour, rain or shine. In fact, out of town weekends would be focused on doing a multi-sport. For instance, this year’s Easter holiday was a four-day boot camp in
The next step in training was to integrate all three sports together and learn how to transition from one sport to another. A sprint triathlon which is half the distance of
Ige encouraged us to continue training. He said, “Please don’t let this simulation scare you. Without failure there will be no success, without hardships there won’t be any victories. Please, guys. be patient, hardworking and keep your heads up high always. You have gone a long way from where you were before, right? C’mon, kaya yan! If you compare yourselves from last year, for sure all of you guys improved tremendously. And I’m proud of you guys, really!”
Another setback was the fact that Ige left for
Luckily, Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP) official Marjo Canjas and concurrent National Philippine Team coach, who used to run for the City of
Before I left for New York on June 18 to attend the International Association of Business Communications Conference, I joined a 10-km race in Pasig and my time improved to one hour eight minutes (versus 1 hour 16 minutes from my first 10-km run last Jan. 13).
Finally,
And so it was that on June 28, straight from
I was getting nervous during the briefing especially since Euan kept repeating incessantly, like a mantra, that he didn’t train enough and will do the relay instead. I started wishing that I should’ve trained a bit while in
Before I left
The next day, we were at the Four Seasons by
The swim was supposed to be 500 meters from the shore to the left buoy, then 500 meters to the right buoy and another 500 meters back to shore. It looked like they were having difficulty setting up the right buoy because of the waves.
The race started at past
My friend Bettina, who was taking photos, got scared because Reanna wasn’t coming out of the water. She came in 15 minutes after. The Australian pro Luke McKenzie who placed first overall after finishing the race in 2 hours nine minutes, came in after 27 minutes swimming.
The bike ride was tougher than the hills of
After biking at the transition area, I met Robyn Stanley, a 56-year-old, silver-haired athlete from
I must have looked exhausted and ready to collapse because in her sweet voice she said, “Honey, you don’t have to finish the race. It was a difficult swim and bike. You’ve done enough.” I found out later that she had qualified for the Ironman event in Kona, Hawaii, and Bali was a warm-up for an Ironman event the following Sunday.
I don’t know what got into me, but after all the hard work training, I succumbed to exhaustion and ended up taking Robyn’s advice not to continue the race.
Blame it on the heat or jetlag, I told myself that I didn’t have to prove anything. I started horsing around the transition area, taking photos, chatting with fellow participants and downing isotonic drinks.
As I was about to cross the street to check out the pros at the banquet area, I saw Raeanna coming in from the bike. She yelled to start running and finish the race. She reminded me that we trained hard for six months; when the guilt trip didn’t work, she said, “We didn’t come all the way to
However, I suddenly was brought back to my initial meeting with Ige when he asked me what my goal was.
I had told him that the goal is to finish the race, to complete the swim-bike-run. I started feeling like a loser for giving up so quickly. If Raeanna is finishing the race, I might as well not give up also and, most of all, not let her beat me. With this in mind, I ran and overtook her. It took me 1 hour and 14 minutes to run the streets of Jimbaran; it took McKenzie only 37 minutes.
I was one of the last few to cross the finish line. I was happy to see the
Believe it or not, not only did I finish the race, but I placed first in my age group (45-49 years old)! I won a trophy and dinner for two in Samaya Resort in Seminyak. Not bad for a first-timer, 40-something athlete who trained for six months.
After
I wonder if I can finish the
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