A Triathlete’s Black and Blues

May 25, 2009

   

 

Article for the column GREEN LIGHT (Manila Standard Today, May 25, 2009)
 
A Triathlete’s Black and Blues
 
By Rene F. Concepcion
 
I competed in my first standard-distance triathlon two Sundays ago at the ITU Subic Bay International Triathlon.  That’s a 1.5km swim, followed by a 40km bike, and finishing off with a 10km run.  I’ve got blisters all over both feet to prove it.
 
One year ago, I questioned the sanity of triathletes.  I watched them do the run leg in severe summer heat; their faces expressed pain and suffering, with the scowl of someone desperate for logic and reason.  My reply to people who asked if I would ever join triathlons is that I get the same “satisfaction” racing a 50-meter freestyle, which ends in less than 30-seconds.  Why prolong the pain for three-hours?
 
A year and three hours later, I know the answer:  I look good in a tri-suit! 
 
For over a decade, I had the hardest time losing the girth I added due to age, slower metabolism, horrible happy-hour diet, and stressed-out, stuck-in-traffic or glued-to-the- tube sedentary lifestyle.  The occasional gym visit or the promises never to eat Spam again (till I lose the weight) never worked.  My life plateaued.
 
Today, the plateaus I long for are the ones after a heartbreak hill (biking and running), or steady 200-meter splits of an 800-meter freestyle time trial.  Training is everyday, if not, you will never finish a race.  The sport is simply too hard.  The attraction is that triathlons make you hungry again - hungry to satisfy a competitive urge inherent in the human spirit that could’ve been dormant, lost, or trampled upon by the drudgery of daily sign-of-the- times living.
 
Swimming fast doesn’t matter; biking faster than Ghost Rider (who can ride up the side of buildings – and believe me, hills feel like the y-axis) does not either.  You can be the world’s fastest runner, but what really matters is that you can swim, bike, and run fast back-to-back- to-back.  That’s the sport.  It’s a triathlon.  As a competitive swimmer, I was an IMer (Individual Medley) so I know what it’s like to do all strokes (fly, back, breast, and free) in one race.   How I wish it were as easy.
 
At the race in Subic, I was first overall for about 30 minutes.  I built a good lead in the swim, got on the bike in a trouble-free transition, and stayed “first” for maybe a kilometer.  Then the big biker boys starting speeding by me; I felt like a balut-vendor.  Ninety-plus minutes later, I reached the run.  At this point, hoping for a fast time or decent ranking was futile.  There was no medal to win, no best time to beat.  I’ve been so used to getting gold in the pool, maybe it’s time I learned to accept…
 
No!  I haven’t accepted anything except I swear I am going to be super ready for the next race.  It will be the Animo Sprint on June 14 at Ayala Alabang, then the much-anticipated Ironman 70.3 Philippines on August 23 in Camarines Sur.   Less than one year into this sport, I am attempting the half-Ironman distance of 1.9km swim, 90km bike, and 21.1km run in Camsur.  After that, I’ll accept my fate leading me to the Ironman distance of 3.8km swim, 180km bike, and a full 42.2km marathon run, wherever that race might be.  I’m throwing down the gauntlet.
 
Certainly I will continue to join swim-only races like this Friday’s 13k open water relay across Sarangani Bay, and the upcoming 1st International Swim Masters Series – Philippines next month (June 20 - 21) at Trace College and Anilao - pool racing on the first day and a 5k open water competition the next.  It would be nice to touch first again since it’s swimming only.  Water is my comfort zone. 
 
But I’ve been out to sea, sailing in comfort, too long.  No matter how blistered my feet may get, triathlons show me what’s beyond – beyond my mind, body, and soul’s limit.  It sounds cliché-ish, but true.  Human hunger seems to be a ravenous thirst for the extraordinary, the summit, of feeling a unique pulse as if thrown back by the blast of a space ship that no one believes you saw.  So many folks are now into this sport that perhaps the one-of-a-kind factor may be gone, but I’ve yet to experience all triathlon has to offer.   Show me the road - I’ll swim so fast to get to shore.
 
NOTE:  For more info on the following races, please visit their respective websites:  Animo Sprint Triathlon for the Benefit of the Jaime Hilario Scholarship Fund and One La Salle Fund (June 14) www.triathlon. org.ph; 1st International Swim Masters Series (June 20 – 21) www.sportsmgt. ph; Ironman 70.3 Philippines www.ironman703phil. com.  Train now, you’ll also look good in a tri-suit!
 
Professor Rene F. Concepcion is a full-time faculty member at the De La Salle University Ramon V. del Rosario Sr. Graduate School of Business.  He has just finished a one-year sabbatical.  But he has continued to be the head coach of the DLSU varsity swimming team, with this coming school year as his 8th season.  Comments can be sent to his email concepcionr@ dlsu.edu. ph