Tag: Joey Torres

Rice and Eggs and Other Surprises in Desaru (A Tri Story)

We found ourselves in Desaru, Malaysia when the 70.3 Ironman Putrajaya was suddenly postponed. We had trained for months and were ready to race. Ani de Leon instantly found another race, just 1 week after the original race we  trained for. It was called the  Desaru Long Distance Triathlon (2k swim-90k bike-21k run).

Our small Philippine contingent consisted of National tri-champ Ani de Leon, Phil team triathlete and now Coach Peter Gonzalez,  my training partner Joey Torres and me. Ani’s boyfriend Patrice also joined us. We flew into Singapore and caught a 30 minute ferry to Malaysia.

On the ferry to Desaru
On the ferry to Desaru

None of us had ever been there. The roads were beautiful, perfect for biking.  Unfortunately, the hotel we stayed in was not as nice as the roads. It was run down, there were leaking pipes in the bathroom, and there was hardly any food in the restaurant.  We had rice and eggs every meal. Breakfast buffet was..all you can eat rice and eggs. Buti na lang girl scout ako. I had gone food shopping in Singapore and bought fruits and yogurt and some bread.

On Friday morning, we got on our bikes in search of food. We biked about 25km til we found heaven – a Petronas station with a store. We loaded our back packs (I loaded Joey’s since I did not have one) with instant noodles, drinks and chocolate bars.

Race morning breakfast was  boiled water in the coffee pot and voila..instant noodles and egg.   We biked to the Desaru Golden Beach Resort where the race would start.  Nadine, my daughter and  Che would be our water girls and cheering squad rolled into one.nads-and-me-swim

The swim turned out to be a mini-roller coaster. I felt I was moving up and down,  not forward.  Thankfully, I made it and transitioned into the bike segment. I loved that bike course! The roads were smooth and wide,  rolling hills without too many turns. bike  

Soon enough, I  was on to the last segment – the run.It would take me about two hours. Course was hilly with one killer hill where I found most people walking. I didn’t walk it, but I could feel the strain on my calves going up that hill. We passed the Desaru Golden Beach Club a couple of times.This was the best part. Spectators and supporters waited there, cheering and handing out refreshments.  Nadine and Che handed us water, energy bars and whatever they had.

Halfway through the run, I was running towards the crowd of people,  and I spot Nadine holding out a banana. She shouts,” Mommy, mommy, banana?” As I pass her, I shout back, “Later, later, after the turn around.”

my sweet water girl ready to hand me my drink
my sweet water girl ready to hand me my drink

 Throughout that turn-around I dream of that banana. All I have had for the last 4:30 hours is water, some energy drink and gel. 4k later I am back. I can practically taste the banana. I imagine its sweet taste, the potassium and whatever other nutrients a  banana has flowing thru my veins and nourishing my body to give me 1 more hour worth of strength and speed.

As I approached Nadine, I shouted, “Banana! Banana!”

My daughter replies, “Sorry mommy, its gone.”

I said, “What?! Why? What happened?”

 “The monkey ate your banana, mommy.”

one of the culprits
one of the culprits

What can I say? In some triathlon races, you look out for cars,  in others you look out for potholes on the road. In Desaru, you look out for monkeys…and your banana.

I took 6th place in the age group 35 and up. Ani took 5th place in her age-group and Peter Gonzalez took 2nd. Not bad for our small Philippine contingent. We dedicate our race to President Cory Aquino. 

flag in one hand, yellow flower in the other
flag in one hand, yellow flower in the other

 

happy finishers
happy finishers

Like many other women, I’m a trimom. I had promised Nadine that after my race, I was all hers. She wanted to go swimming and show me her dive. So we swam in the pool, and then headed to the beach to catch the waves.  Then we we went back to our hotel to pack-up and eat.

What was our post-race meal?… but of course more noodles and eggs.

Sleepytrigirl is back

I don’t recall suffering from jet lag as much as I am now. Its been more than a week  since I got back from Ethiopia and my body clock is still off. Last Sunday, I ran the Greenfield 10k race on 1 hour sleep.  That night, I slept soundly and after 7 hours of sleep,  was able to train at 7 am. The next day however, I could not get out of bed! I skipped training all together.

But jet lagged or not, I’m suppose to be back in training. It’s triathlon season for me. And I do miss doing triathlons. The last six months I did three marathons – Amsterdam in October, New York in November and just  this March, Tokyo. The week we got back to Manila, my training partner and I  swam and biked and he said “Partner, we’re triathletes again!”

I laughed and said, “yes we are.” Truth is, we never  stopped being  triathletes. Though my last three  major races were all marathons, we actually did our fair share of triathlons in 2008.

Last July,  Joey and I planned a trip to NY  and looked for a race to join in the area. His sister lived in New Jersey. So did my cousins. Best of all, m my brother Lino was living in New York. We ended up doing  the Rhode Island inaugural 70.3.

Joey, me and his bike in times square
Joey, me and his bike in times square

 

 

 

Rhode Island 70.3 ironman
Rhode Island 70.3 ironman

 

 

The next week, I did NY tri with Lino.  A few weeks later, Joey represented HSBC Philippines in the HSBC triathlon in London. Then he did the 03 triathlon in Subic. I did the Olympic distance.

 

NY Tri with Lino
NY Tri with Lino

 

 

Finally, in September, I did the Singapore 70.3 and he did a full ironman distance at my  event “12 hours in Memory of Gabriel.”

 

Singapore 70.3 ironman
Singapore 70.3 ironman

 

 

 

Joey finishing his ironman in the rain
Joey finishing his ironman in the rain

 

Ani de Leon, who completes our trio had her share of triathlons that year too. She did Ironman Langkawi in February where she qualified for a slot in Kona, the world championships. To prepare for Kona  she also did the Singapore 70.3 and the 03 in Subic. Then she was off to Kona to fulfill her dream.

Ani doing her dream race Ironman Kona
Ani doing her dream race Ironman Kona

 

Although I love doing tris, it definitely takes a lot of time  to train for one.  I have to plan my training schedule very carefully.. I need to plot and work  in 3-4 sessions of running, biking and swimming, plus at least 1 yoga and 1 boxing session (boxing is our easy day/cross-training work-out).

 My training partner and I need to juggle work, parenting and other commitments throughout the week.  And in my case, I need to be protective of the amount of back-to-back runs my legs can handle to avoid injuries.. And yes, I need my sleep.

So every week, we start out with a training plan. But every night, my training partner texts me and asks, “What’s ETT?” That’s estimated time of training. You see, even though we already have a plan for each day, he knows that it could change depending on:

       How my body feels/what’s on my mind

       how much sleep I will get

       changes in my schedule

 Although I always try to stick to the training plan, I sometimes alter the distance or intensity of the session, depending on the three factors above.  If I suddenly have an early day, then we will just do a quick run or box for 45 minutes.

What makes our ETT even more difficult to predict these days is the summer heat. I always fantasize about starting at day break..IF I could only get to bed early. But that rarely happens when you have a long day with lots on your mind, kids to take care of and work that you take home. 

So what’s a sleepytrigirl to do? Same thing, I’ve done the past few years. Kiss my kids goodnight and set my alarm; hit the snooze button a few times before I finally roll out of bed in the morning; text or reply to my partner that I’m awake or check that he is and down my oatmeal and vitamins before he walks in the door.

Rain or shine, sleepy or wide awake,  its time to train and be grateful for the gift of fitness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tokyo Marathon: "I Promise My Goal"

At the Tokyo Marathon Expo, the theme was “I Promise my Goal.” Not a perfect English translation, but we figured it meant set your goal and accomplish it. That sort of pressured me to do just that. Thing is, I didn’t really want the stress and the pain of attempting to break 4 hours again. The last time I tried five months ago, I missed it by 2 seconds! But even though I had less time to train for this one, the night before the race I decided I would to try again. I would run an under-4 hour pace for the first 21k and then see how it went from there.

At the Expo - visualizing my elusive goal
At the Expo - visualizing my elusive goal

With that decision, I had to stay up an hour later, scribbling my splits per km on my white medical tape which I taped to my wrist. Arggh!

my splits taped to my wrist
my splits taped to my wrist

I was actually out late the night before mingling with the other guests of the Tokyo Metropolitan Govt. Officials from other countries were there and I had a wonderful exchange with the women representatives from Singapore, Thailand and Japan, talking about women issues, like discrimination and empowerment. I was the only guest who was running the race. All the others were just there to observe.

Race Day:

The holding area was filled with runners, not a surprise since there were 35,000 participants. I was hoping that they would release the runners in waves so it would not be as crowded when we started running. But as I had feared, it was still very congested at the start and we were forced to run at a much slower pace for the first two kms until the runners spread out more.

As the run progressed, there didn’t turn out to be much to see. There was just building after building and then more buildings. But what was interesting were the people who ran in costumes. I was passed by a slimmer version of Winnie the Pooh, a clown and lots of runners in funny hats. I also spotted a gay fairy and most memorable of all was a girl who passed me in angel wings. I remember thinking, buti pa siya may pakpak.

To my utter horror my garmin malfunctioned and was showing wild numbers for my pace. Grrr! Oh well, the race went on. After about four hours of running, what will forever be etched in my mind is the finish line. The last three kilometers we ran thru the howling winds and the pouring rain. I had to hold on to my cap and shades because it already got blown off early in the race. It was never sunny enough to put on my shades.

Into the last 3kms, I already knew that we would not break 4 hours. We might have if I had been able to maintain a 5:30min/k pace at 35kph. But at km 39, we had about 14 minutes left and I had slowed down a bit. I told Joey he could do it, but being the gentleman that he is, he said we would finish together.

So we pushed thru the wind, climbing one of the very few bridges, where to our delight the theme song of Rocky was blaring (Joey and I are Rocky fans because we box as part of our cross training). The Japanese spectators enthusiastically cheering us on, sadly in a language that was totally foreign to me.

At the 1km mark, the crowd got thicker, the cheering got louder and the rain poured harder. I loved it!

By then I started looking out towards the bleachers, because my kids and Che were suppose to be there. When we turned the last bend, I finally saw the finish line! I felt like I was running in slow motion because I can remember carefully scanning the faces in the crowd trying to find my children.

I was suddenly knocked out of my slow-mo mode when this female runner in blue tried to run pass me just a hundred meters to the finish. I outsprinted her and Joey and I crossed the finish line in 4:04 but still no children in sight.

Then right after I crossed, to my right I saw them, my two girls smiling, clapping standing in the rain in raincoats! I had requested that our host the Tokyo Metropolitan Government arrange to have my kids at the finish line, but I expected them somewhere up in the bleachers. I was blown away. I was so so happy to see them. This was my birthday gift good health and my family.

my girls in raincoats at the finish
Joey Torres, me and my girls in raincoats at the finish

My kids were with Che (who did her first 10k, woohoo!) Usec Cesar Lacuna of MMDA who gave me beautiful pink flowers!!!!…and the people from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in their suits (reminding me of Men in Black) .. all of them standing in the rain in raincoats cheering for us.

Finish line with my kids and the rest
Finish line with my kids and our super supporters

After I hugged them, we lined up to get our goodies and then Joey and I did what we always do after a race. We ran again. Just 1km.. to celebrate life.

Oh and what does “I promise my goal” mean? Well, the Japanese refer to the finish line as the “goal.” So, I promise my goal, means to finish.. I guess we can say that we accomplished that. Meanwhile, I still have my under 4 hour marathon to work on. Maybe next birthday run.

My strawberry cream surprise birthday cake!
My strawberry cream surprise birthday cake awaiting me at the hotel!

n.b. I will write another article about the race course, race conditions and other details runners may want to know.

The New Gimmick

Like many Sunday mornings, my friends and training partners, Ani, Joey and George wake up in the dark to get to a morning race. And each time we get there, we are always pleasantly surprised by the number of people who like us choose to spend their Sunday morning at a race.

During a conversation with my friend Gap Legaspi. a neuro surgeon, but in the good-ol-days, the captain of the UP track team, he said to me, wow, everyone seems to be running these days and getting a running coach.

Me: Yes, I have a few good friends who are running coaches.

Him: Really? What do they teach? How do you teach someone to run?

Me: Gap, not everyone is a gifted runner like you. A lot of people have never run. They don’t know how to swing their arms, how to land on their feet, how fast or how slow to go..

Gap: So, everyone is getting a running coach these days?

Me: A lot of people who want to get started do. I personally recommend it when people start asking me details on the right running form. It’s good to know that you’re training properly. And if you already know the basics of running and are comfortable running, a running coach can take you to the next level “ running and racing longer distance, racing faster, training wisely

Gap: so, its true, running coaches are the new DIs.

Me: haha, yes, I guess, you can say that.

We went on to discuss how thrilled we were that more people where discovering the joy of running, the joy of being healthy, of being outdoors and feeling strong. These days, there is a race almost every weekend. My triathlete friends and I meticulously plan our race calendar for the year. We combine run races and triathlons.

My running and racing has taken me so many places. I have seen different parts of the country and other countries on my feet. Every run is an experience. Just the other week in Batangas, at the Milo 21k run, Ani, Joey and I were running up endless hills. I was wondering when our misery would end. Suddenly, someone shouted, “Malapit na, dalawang barangay na lang!

My friends and I get high on being fit. We are conscious of the food we eat, the air we breathe. We are thankful for good health. For people like us, this is our gimmick every weekend. Instead of saan ang gimmick? We ask each other:

Saan ang karera (where is the race)?
What distance are you doing?
Who’s joining?
Where are we eating after?

On the eve of my birthday, I will not be going out. I will be sleeping in, because the next day I will do a birthday run “ a marathon! And after that I will celebrate the good life.

This is the life I choose. This is the life my friends and I live.