Sunday Long Run - 090708

As usual I was up early. I wanted to sleep a little bit longer but it must be a force of habit so to speak. I'm a morning kind of guy. I'm normally up about 4:30am daily. Would take coffee while reading the news then would work on my docs or check on my emails when no one would disrupt me. It's a bliss. I got to the garage & I cleaned up my bike. Brushed all the gears and removed the tar that clung on the frame. Could not helped not to wash Arni's bike as well. And cut all the excess cable ties, installed my extra bottle holder, brushed off grease off the chain and cogs, etc. It's sparkling clean.

I did some errands in the morning so I decided not to run early. I usually do early Sunday long runs before my family wakes up. But today I woke up refreshed and out of the blue thought of doing heat training (as if the bike+run yesterday was not hot enough!). So I informed the guys who would take on the challenge. Ferdi did not have second thoughts and we were on for an 11am run at UP. He had also some errands to attend to and I also delivered water to some of our dealers before going to UP. It was already about 12:25pm and a little bit gloomy (thank God!) when we started to run taking the first half hour easy. We diverted down to the Balara pools for a bit of downhill/uphill slope training. It was a great training simulation for the hills of Subic. We did 2 loops with hills. The sun was shining ever so brightly and we are feeling the heat of the road on our feet (particularly along the university avenue stretch). Told Ferdi I wouldn't dare take off my shades. We cooled down around the academic oval where it was mostly shaded by the big acacia trees. I got home and had a couple of peanut butter sandwich with Endurox and I dozed off. Got up around 5:30pm and had a cup of coffee. I had second thoughts already if I would still do the swim workout when Ferdi called and asked if I would still swim. Hell yeah!

Iba Ride - Time Trial Sat 090708

Saturdays are usually long bike rides for the training group and we decided to hit the Iba roads once more. Plan was to leave early and bike off from the white Rock resort to simulate the bike leg route for the WRT Long Distance Tri scheduled on October 4, 2008. It's actually a 4 hour ride and we would be getting past the turn-around point in Cabangan municipal hall which is about 45km away. Now is the time to gauge the months of training and big ring power pedalling we have been doing for weeks since May. Also to practice on our nutrition along the way. I got 2 powerbars and 4 gels plus 3 packets of Gu2O for my hydration. We biked off just past 8am heading towards Cabangan town. Chock has a new kick-your-ass bike and was super excited as always. I stayed close to him and we were taking turns in speeding up to almost 45kph in long straight aways. He has no cyclometer yet and I was like his navigator yelling out our speeds every 5 minutes or so. We got to Cabangan in 1 hour 20 minutes. Average speed of 34kph. Not bad at all. We waited for the rest of the group and after a brief rest we headed out towards Iba for another 40 min for our 2 hour turn around point. The head wing on our way back was ruthless. Me and Ferdi sticked together and we were just doing about 25kph at most. But we still managed to cling on to our big rings and powered our way against the forces of nature. We stopped over to hydrate in a store before San Marcelino town and waited for the rest of the group. Carlo came in a few minutes followed by Arni who told us that she got past Chock who was already wasted and red all over. Might be his wide body catching all of the head wind like a sail. Chock thought he forgot his gels but I noticed that a packet of gel was sticking out of his back pocket. He took it and we headed back to Subic town which is approximately an hour away. My nutrition must have been working just fine as I still have fire left on my legs attacking the hills furiously. I think I did a 60kph on the last downhill overtaking a convoy of trucks. After everyone had arrived at white rock resort we changed into our running gears and we hit the road for our 30min brick run. I maintained a steady 5min pace till Papagayo where me & Chock had a quick drink. On our way out Carlo & Ferdi were heading back to white rock. I just hit on the button and took on about a 4:30min pace and could feel the electrolytes had just kicked in. Felt good after the run. We hurriedly took a shower and stopped over at Binalot for a quick lunch. We still had a team pictorial to catch in Makati for the One Sports mag. The photo shoot is another story to tell. Me and Carlo capped the day with a sumptuous feast of Pares and Bulalo (with Litid & Laman) in a side street eatery in Mandaluyong.