Starting from scratch

The rain is falling in light sheets over the stadium and the sky is painted an ugly gray by the lingering storm. A slight breeze washes over the tracks, dropping the ambient temperature and giving me a much needed respite from my labors. I’m out of breath, my vision blurring and my heart monitor chirping like a dying bird on my wrist. But I will myself not to stop until I finally cross the starting line. It’s 7:30 in the morning and my day is just about to begin. Call it a lifestyle change if you will. After decades of smoking, boozing and plain, flat-out unhealthy eating I decided I love living too much to have all the fun come to an abrupt and untimely end.

I have actually taken up mountain biking three years ago and haven’t looked back but I still eat like a pig and until a month or two ago smoked like a curing slab of bacon. It was my co-workers who convinced me to give running, swimming and road biking a tri, no pun intended. A few of them have actually finished Cam Sur and in the off-season, maintain their fitness levels joining duathlons or marathons. Which is the path I am now taking. A duathlon in August, another one in September and hopefully, just hopefully, be fit enough to get my feet wet in a triathlon.

I started this blog to keep track of my progress and to share the trials of a wannabe. Hopefully, someone will not commit the same mistakes after reading all the stuff I shall be writing here.

Running

I used to hate running. I often asked myself what’s the point of running if one cannot enjoy the scenery because one is constantly out of breath? And I couldn’t stand the monotony of plodding along the roads or a track. All that changed when a colleague and I, over a few bottles of extra strong beer took up the challenge to enter the Nuvali duathlon.

Call it false bravado or alcohol induced insanity. The following day I brought my old Addidas Megas to work. After the newscast I left my car in the parking lot and jogged back home. I was determined to get in shape for the event and the seven kilometers between the office and Marikina did not seem that far.

I know. Believe me I know. It was the hardest seven kilometers I had ever jogged my entire life. Halfway through, my knees were killing me, my foot had become numb and my back hurt. But I didn’t stop. I stubbornly plodded on like a deranged elephant with the ungainly gait and stride to match.

My official time was a dismal 54 minutes which included stops at three traffic lights, a stop to avoid colliding with a street scavenger and his cart and a short pee on someone’s perimeter wall. When I finally reached home. I rehydrated, ate a full meal and while resting realized there was so much more to learn about running.

That night I opened up trusty old Google and decided to read up on running. I went to bed around one in the morning, the little gears in my mind happily clicking over the plethora of data and information I had harvested from the net.

I got my gait tested the following day and promptly plopped down the moolah for a decent pair of stability shoes. I was surprised they cost more than basketball shoes because them running shoes don’t really have big name sports icons hawking them around. I tried on a few models from Brooks, Asics and Mizuno but settled on a rather bland looking pair of New Balance 860s. They were the least attractive shoes among the ones I tried on but the little gears in my head reminded me the prime requisite here was comfort and feel. These shoes felt great! And they had ample room at the toes. Donald Duck would have loved these shoes. Did I also mention they were on sale? Yes well they were which was actually the thing that sealed the deal.

And then it was off to the tracks to test the shoes and the midfoot strike. From my understanding the proper way to run is to land on the balls of the front foot or the area in the middle of the foot. Before gleaning this knowledge I used to strike with my heel. This explains the pain in my knees. When running, the leg is fully straight and extended whenever we land on our heels. The weakest part of that straight leg are the soft portions of our joints that have to bear the majority of our weight EVERY stride we take.

No wonder it hurt so much. I did 3 kilometers with my new found running style. It was the easiest 3 kilometers I had ever done my whole life. I did my warmups by walking the Marikina oval twice, did some stretching after and started running. I followed one rule on pacing though and that was to run at a speed where one could carry out a normal conversation without getting out of breath. Yes there are far faster snails in the animal kingdom than me that day but I did not care. At this pace I felt I could go on forever. That’s not a boast. Nothing hurt and I wasn’t out of breath. So at this point I figured a progressive lengthening of distance or variations in intensity would be enough to up my running prowess. Its still a rule I follow and the upcoming duathlon will prove whether I’ve done right. 

Swimming

I’ve set very small goals for myself on the road to tri-fitness. I know it shall come after months or even years of faithful training. Which is why I also took it upon myself to do laps in between my running and biking days.

I love the water, especially the ocean. It always feels like home when I’m swimming in saltwater. If caught aboard a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean, I know I can survive long enough to be rescued. That’s how confident I am of my swimming proficiency. Which is like all things when one really starts training, an illusion to be shattered by bitter reality. Two hundred meters into my first “training” swim I was clinging to the pool walls, trying not to look out of breath and wondering where that fast kid who swam for the intramurals swim championship went.

Okay that was like 25 years ago but I must have kept something from those days right? I couldn’t be more wrong. All I had left was a semblance of a decent stroke and partially passable breathing rhythm. Oh yes I almost forgot, I also blow bubbles during rests like a seasoned veteran. Beyond that I might as well be at the level of my six year old son who just completed swim training over the summer.

Right now I’ve stopped counting distance and started counting minutes swum. I realize I have to build a foundation for swimming fitness as well. It shall be months before I can swim 1000 meters non-stop. 

Biking

I shan’t dwell too much on biking. I am an avid mountain biker and I’ve gotten used to the demands of cycling up trails and unforgiving ascents. It is my only saving grace and I feel the fitness I’ve reached through biking helps me cope with the new found exhilaration of punishing my body with the new found torture routines of swimming and running. I wanted to give duathlons and even sprint triathlons a tri (that persistent word again…) using my old faithful mountain steed. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Giant Trance



But one look a second-hand Cervelo Soloist S1 decked in delicious Ultegra and 3T trim…well it made me think of getting a separate bike to pursue my triathlon dreams..