Pot's Birthday Ride

July 1, 2013

How do cycling enthusiasts celebrate their birthday? With a ride of course and the celebrant gets to choose the route. These pics were taken in the eastern part of Lucena City.

Mr. Pot Pot in the middle

Yep, that's a beach and some cows

After a lake and a sea, here we are at the river

And a there's always food... lots of food

Swimming Pool Start

For those of you wondering how a swimming pool start of a triathlon or aquathlon looks like here goes one from Wetshop beginners tri.

An Expensive Ride

Bike rides are supposed to be cheap, right? Just bring some water and 200 pesos and you're good, right? Well sometimes you need more than 200 when you happen to chance upon a bike shop or want to try more than a tapsilog or pancit on ride stops. But this one never entered my mind and it's quite an expensive ride.




triathlon philippines
A wooden gazebo for a garden project by my buddy - bought on a whim

My friend Pong saw a wooden furniture maker beside the highway and we stopped over to see their stuff. I immediately fell in love with the sofa set made of 'maulawin' an endangered wood specie and he had his eyes on a gazebo that's a perfect fit for his garden project - needless to say we had it delivered to our address after some haggling. 



bike ride
A excellently built 'maulawin' set is hard to pass at a right price

Run United 2 2013

June 2, 2013

Mall of Asia

Hydration Stations:  Excellent. There were enough for the whole 32K. Well manned with plenty of water and gatorade, some stations have bananas.

 Route:  Flat and a bit boring with Macapagal Boulevard and Roxas Boulevard as the main streets used. Well lit even in places that were supposed to be dark the organizers provided generator sets for lighting.

 Cheering:  It started too early and I never bothered to wake up my family in our hotel room.

 Traffic Management: From my point of view it was superb.

 Kilometer Markers:  Markers on every kilometer.

 Marshals: There were enough at every key areas, even security personnel.

 Singlet:  Better than most.

Medal: Excellent

 Freebies:  Unilab Products. Photo booth. Game booths. Concert.

 Injuries:  None, fortunately.

The Bad:  The start is a bit too early for my taste. 


Run United 2









view from my hotel room beside MOA: I think that building is Solaire

Look Who's On The Cover!

No it's not me, Swim PH's April Cover girl is my pool lane mate Tintin. Don't know how old she is right now but I saw her swam 800 meters in 10 plus minutes when she was 12. Sound fast? Wait til you see her swim her favorite stroke, the butterfly.



Triathlon Swimming
My mate on lane 4

Swim PH cover
On the cover of April 2013 issue

XTERRA Mud Run

draft by camille


May 26, 2013
Filinvest



triathlon Philippines
BANG!!!

A helping hand: nice and dirty


trail run
Running on single tracks

Bottleneck at the rope


XTERRA obstacle course
Spiral Crawl at kilometer 5


XTERRA Mud Run
Extremely muddy and happy

Shower and shampoo

DJ Karen tidying up

Ride to Zig Zag

Using our mountain bikes, we climbed up to Quezon National Forest Park aka zig zag aka eMe. There were four of us riding our mtb's, a pair of 26ers and a pair of 29ers in celebration of my friend Zaldy's birthday. It was a 60 kilometer chillax ride to the top of the mountain where we had breakfast.

Triathlon Philippines
Zaldy taking a walk: he's such a newbie :)

Bike ride to Quezon National Forest Park
My bike on a cliff

mtb cycling
One last pose before we descend... burrp

Off Road Duathlon at Hacienda Escudero

May 5, 2013
3.5K-22K-3.5K

For starter, this didn't turn out well. My first attempt at off road racing was a bit of a failure right from the start. Two days before the event I went to the venue for track reading. A fellow named Hermie generously guided me through the track. It was a mix of lots of trail under the coconut trees and some paved roads of an empty subdivision. The trail was flat with turns all over the place and the grass slows the wheel down substantially. I wasn't doing well that day but I already expected that since I'm riding with tires suited for hard pack concrete like roads. I knew I had to use a different set of rubbers and there lies the problem, I didn't change them so I was doomed right from the get go.



Off Road Duathlon at Hacienda Escudero
Early enough to bike through the run route before gun start

The first run started out well, I reached kilometer 1 in less than 4 minutes and second to go inside the transition area. The run course was approximately 3.5 kilometers and only 35 percent of it was off road and is flat as any pancake's bottom.

Then came the bike leg and with 60 psi of inflation I was bouncing hard on the track. Coupled with my lack of skills on trail riding, or biking in general, needless to say the 22 kilometer ride went slow. And as if that's not enough I encountered two more problems first with my rear derailleur so I had to stop and fix it and second by getting lost in the lagoon portion of the track. By this time I was just enjoying my ride and hoping to finish with a smile on my face as the brutality of off road biking put a toll on my butt and triceps. Maybe a 60 kilometer road bike course is easier than this. My speed was definitely 3 times less than my road bike average.



Green Planet Duathlon
Obviously I won't be stepping on this in the near future

As I entered the transition area to prepare for the second run there were more than 15 bikes already hanging on the bamboo poles. I was able to overtake 5 or 6 runners on my way to the finish line and placed 11th overall out of less than 40 participants.

Would I do this again? Maybe yes if the participants remain few. I don't think I would enjoy it this much if there were more than a hundred of us battling it out on the trails. Trail riding could easily be dangerous if there are a lot of overtaking but the allure of mountain biking will always be there. Off road racing is too technical you just can't spend time on a trainer and hope everything will be fine.



triathlon philippines
Somewhere in San Pablo City

After the race we went to a resort and spa nearby and enjoyed the rest of the day with good food and massage. Ah... Life is good!

Zero!

draft

How did I come to this? Zero race for the month of April. With much of my Sundays devoted to work, I didn't have the time to even join a fun run. This is the first month that I haven't joined a race since the start of 2012. Last year my addiction to the sport led me to join more than 24 events. But this year I don't think that's gonna happen. So does joining races make me faster? Well my answer to that is yes and no. Yes because it definitely motivated me and since my workouts were mostly low mileage and low intensity exercises I treat races as my hard workout days. And no because sometimes they just get me all banged up and put a big hole in my training schedule.

One Sunday Morning

My long bike rides nowadays are few and far between just like my planned races for the year so when a reunion was set at Laiya, San Juan, Batangas I was glad to tag along and use my road bike for some 60 plus kilometers of lung busting ride. I started in Lucena City and it took me more than 2 hours to reach Palm Beach which is actually located in Barangay Hugom just after Laiya. It is the beach just next to La Luz Resort where an off road triathlon is held every December.


Laiya Beach
With my daughter at approximately 100 meters out

triathlon training in Laiya
After 62 kilometers of solo ride

Laiya Beach Triathlon Training
After a short hike to a hill rock with La Luz Resort as the backdrop

New Balance NB1090: Long Runs, Here I Come!


New Balance NB1090: Long Runs, Here I Come!
Here's hoping for longer distances with this pair and a Shuffle

These trainers were on my wish list for some time now, just waiting for the price to go down. Last Saturday I found it at 30 percent off / 3 months to pay so I grabbed a pair in Glorietta and run on it at Bonifacio High Street. My initial impression was that it's light and well cushioned compared to my 10K shoes, the New Balance 1400 which is a lightweight with minimal support. Actually I won't be using these shoes for much of my runs, that privilege goes to my oldest and heaviest New Balance pair, but for longer races which I plan to enter (IM distance perhaps). 

Swimming with Puro Tri Team

by Camille

I’m not sure if my dad is considered as a member of Puro Tri Team (formerly Team Beacon), but let’s just say he is. My dad went to San Beda Alabang to give tips to his friend and teammate about swimming and I accompanied him so I can demo drills and stuff. I’m familiar with the drills, but not what they’re called so I kept asking stupidly what that drill is, like catch up, roll over and things like that. It wasn't much of a job so I mostly just sat there waiting for my dad and his friends (Reggie and Norman) to finish. The place was pretty quiet, which was good since it's like we have the place to ourselves but I found the bathroom creepy since I was alone and when I went to shower I found blood on the floor. I just used the outdoor shower instead.

Puro Tri Team
With Norman and Reggie on April 6

Good Friday Run Alternative

I missed the boat again. Just like Holy Tuesday's Penitensya Ride that I missed, this time it's the 3 am uphill run to the famous Kamay ni Hesus where thousands of pilgrims wake up early and do the ascent. 25K at more than 1,600 ft... yeah that's what i missed being a sleepyhead yesterday. My kid's 'yaya' woke me up at around 2:30 am and told her I'm still feeling sleepy then my friend called who was already waiting at the meeting place and I told him the same. In the afternoon, to make up some lost sacrifice and workout I went out with my MTB and hit the trails and also took a picture of our saint (Saint Peter) in the procession of our parish.


Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Procession after the Last 7 Words with our St. Peter being pulled

Biking at an ongoing government road project

Bisikleta Iglesia 2013

I wasn't able to join our group's 'penitence ride' last Tuesday so I made sure I can join our little 'Bisikleta Iglesia' this Maundy Thursday.  There are only 3 of us who made it, my friend Pot and his daughter Rain, both are triathletes by the way. The plan was to pray at the 7 churches from Tayabas, Quezon to Liliw, Laguna but the rain that poured on our fifth stop changed our intended route. Here are the images of us and the places we visited. Readers are welcome to join us next year for our annual 'penitensya ride', 'bisikleta iglesia' and Good Friday run' to Kamay ni Hesus all the way to the top of the hill.




Bisikleta Iglesia 2013
Minor Basilica in Tayabas, Quezon - Kamay ni Hesus in Lucban - and Lucban, Quezon town church

Holy Rosary Seminary in Lucban at approximately 1,500 ft above sea level

Holy Rosary Parish in Luisiana, Laguna where rain caught up with us

St. Catherine's in Pagbilao, Quezon

Holy Face of Jesus Parish in Lucena City... our last stop

Tri United 1 2013

Race Report by Camille - draft

Yep. This is really a report of my dad’s race. Sorry if I’m kinda late, it’s our finals week anyway.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Woke up at 4 in the morning. Didn’t even bother to shower or anything, just switched my pajamas for trousers (look! I just used the word trousers!). Dragged myself out of bed and went to the car to sleep again.


Senator Pia Cayetano waiting for gunstart

Woke up at 5:38 AM to find that I’m already at Dungaree Beach (The venue for the race). Slept again.

Woke up again at 6:39 AM to find my mother shaking me from my dream about creepy Japanese horrors. Found out that I missed the start of swimming but that’s alright cause the fee for entering the beach is way expensive if you’re only going to watch the race. It’s 200 pesos by the way.


Racking up the bike at Transition Area

Waited beside the transition area so I can get a picture of my father basking in his own awesomeness ;)

Oh I almost forgot, I saw Melai of PBB there. Ambushing triathletes with “HEY!” just like Jennifer Lawrence in The Silver Linings Playbook. I even passed by Erwan Heussaff. But don’t worry, I didn’t go snapping pictures of him like a mad man. I kept my cool and discreetly took a picture of him.


Matteo Guidicelli being interviewed after the swim

Waited some more and there he is. My father. Basking in the glory of his awesomeness.

I ran to the finish line when I saw my dad starting to run. So you know, I’ll be able to take a picture of his finale.

The sun was shining down on us and it was crammed over there so I can’t help but feel annoyed because I despise the hot weather. I prefer the weather of London. Even though I haven’t experienced it first hand, I just know okay?

After waiting for a long time --of course it’s a long time, it’s 10 kilometers guys!-- my dad finally came and he didn’t even show mercy on the guy in front of him.

With a time of 2:37 Paps placed twelfth in his age group.


2:37!

Hydration Stations:  Typical multi-sports race where water and energy drink is abundant.

Route:  The venue was moved from Laiya, San Juan, Batangas to Subic Bay Freeport.  The swim at Dungaree Beach was a nice starting point, the bike route was relatively flat along a scenic seaside drive and the run route was an easy 10k beside the airport with the bay as our view.


First few meters of run route

Cheering:  Triathlon is usually a big family event where members cheer for the participants and teammates and this was no different but the addition of the presence of ABS-CBN talent Melai holding the mike, it’s really crazy fun out there.

Celebrity:  Not sure but here goes.. Isabelle Daza, Erwan Heusaf,Drew Arellano,Matteo Guidicelli, Paolo Abrera

Traffic Management:  Great.

Marshals:  There were enough at every key area.

T-shirt:  Awesome black Tee

Medal:  Excellent


The pink band was worn after claiming the race kit, medal is TRIangular :D

Injuries:  None.

The Bad:  My heartfelt sympathy and prayers to Mr. Raymond Cruz and his family.  I was taking pictures of my dad at the transition area when the ambulance was called and it sped in front of us.
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