3rd Time's a Charm: Camsur 70.3 2011 Race Report

The 2011 edition of the Philippine Ironman 70.3 in Camsur is the most awaited event of the year for most triathletes. It is on its 3rd year, which, rumor has it, would be its final year in the country. Talks about the event being extended for another year at another venue floated in the air, but no one has neither confirmed nor denied this “chismis”.

I wasn’t planning to race this year, but after realizing that the event could be in its last year of offering, I changed my mind and toed the line in August 14 at Lago Del Rey of the Camsur Watersports Complex in Naga, Camarines Sur.

This year’s edition is the biggest so far, with more or less a thousand participants trying to have that Ironman 70.3 medal hanging around their necks by the end of the day. Most registered just to finish, some registered to have a fighting chance to get to the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, the Holy Grail of Ironman triathlon. I registered to try to be one of less than 400 triathletes in the country who can say they’ve done this race 3 times, at least for a year if World Triathlon Corp. ( WTC ) renews the Ironman 70.3 franchise in the country.

The SWIM: 1.9 Kilometers

This year’s race has the biggest number of participants in the event’s 3-year history. In 2009, there were only 400 of us, then we increased to 600 last year, and finally, 800+ this year plus 101 relay teams which would put the total number of athletes at more than a thousand. No wonder there were a lot of heads covered with swim caps at the start line!

The first wave, composed of the Filipino Elites and Professionals, was the first to go at 6:15 a.m. The organizers bunched the 30-49 age groupers into one big wave composed of more than 600 athletes. Mix that with a little more than 50-meter wide starting area and you have a melee in your hands.

We were off at 6:20 a.m. and immediately, the washing machine started. I got hit almost instantly on the head which misaligned my goggles. I tried swimming through the chaos with a leaking goggle but gave up around 200 meters from the start. I needed to fix my goggles and held on to the buoy. However, there were several athletes already hanging on for dear life and the buoy line, which was a little over one meter away from me, seemed so far. I swam forward and got hit on the shoulder by a breast stroker. I swam past him and cut him off his line so I can hang on to the buoy.

Fixed my goggles and swam again. 150 meters forward and BAM! Another hit on the head while I was about to take in air. Water entered my nose and I choked. Treaded water to compose myself and breast stroked a bit to get my bearings back. Held on to the buoy and looked around to see who else were holding on for safety.

“Bro!”, someone said. It was Lt. Col. Bong Patrimonio, my teammate. His goggles got knocked out. All that water and we bumped into each other almost 400 meters into the swim. Amazing!

I was hoping to finish the first part of the swim in 40 minutes, I got out of the big lake in 39, I was within target to break 1 hour for the first time in this race. Excited, I hurriedly ran to the small lake for the conclusion of the swim. I thought that, similar to the first two years, the 2nd part of the swim would be less stressful as the racers have thinned out already. I was wrong.

The small lake was still littered with swimmers when I dove in. I tried to stay away from any of them so I could be at peace, swimming. But that wasn’t to happen. 100 meters into the small lake and hands were tapping my feet and nudging my side. All I could do was to battle it out and hope that the swim finish was near.

150 meters to the swim finish and I got hit on the head for the 3rd time. About 100 meters to go and I got kicked by a breast stroker on the groin which really shook me. It was so painful that I swallowed about half a glass of the murky water of that lake. Yucckkkk!!!!

Finally reached shore in 1 hour, 1 minute and change. Disappointed but not discouraged, I did a quick transition and mounted my bike in 1:05 of the race.

The BIKE: 90 Kilometers

I planned on doing the bike leg conservatively this year . In the past 2 years, it was pedal to the metal for me after I mounted my bike, resulting to me melting on the run after. My teammates who recon’d the course two weeks earlier were one in saying that we all should conserve on the first 45k then hammer it going back to CWC. That became my plan.

It was the small chainring for me initially. I was keeping an average of 30kph which was within my target pace. However, seeing the dark clouds above, I thought that once rains fell, the roads would be harder to ride on. I increased my pace to about 32kph average and then, at around my 15K mark, it rained, and it rained hard.

Every raindrop at 34-35kph were like pellets from an airgun. Each brought sting to the skin, and coupled with moist sunglasses, the ride became harder but manageable. My brakes became less effective and I had to ride gingerly on descents for fear of sliding down. I slowed down a bit and hoped for the rains to ease up.

Reached turn-around after 1:30 @ 30kph average. The rains eased up going back so the roads became clearer and more visible. I was aiming to reach transition 2 in 4 hours or less and seeing I only had less than 1hr, 30mins to do it, I increased my speed.

Reached T2 in 3:59 of the race. Right on target!

The RUN: 21.1 Kilometers

The cool bike ride plus strictly following my nutrition plan must have kept my calorie inventory in check as I felt strong when I dismounted from my bike unlike the past 2 years. My target for the 21K run leg was a total of 2:30, with the first 10k at 1:10.

My strides were short but my cadence was high. Somehow, doing this makes me run longer at a comfortable pace. The rain had stopped and I was praying that the sun wouldn’t show so as not to “steam” all of us. Camsur 70.3 is known for its hot run course, something I really don’t miss about this event.

I was keeping a good pace until the first 10K. I beat my target of 1:10 and registered a minute faster at 1:09. I was ecstatic! It was already around 5:02 of the race and thoughts about finishing the race in sub-6:15 already crossed my mind. I was feeling great and eating and hydrating well.

Then suddenly, at about the 10.5K mark, I felt some pain on the front right part of my abdominals. At first it was manageable and I didn’t mind it, I just slowed down a bit. However, as I was trying to dismiss it, the pain got more intense. At first I thought it was a sidestitch, but, after stretching my right arm, it didn’t go away. Then I realized, it was abdominal cramps. It was so severe that I had to stop dead on my tracks and bend. Deep breathing didn’t help. I walked about 500meters hoping it would go away, it didn’t.

Reaching the 12K mark jog-walking, I decided to let it all out. “Bonk na kung bonk!” Miraculously, the more I ran, the less pain there was. I tried increasing my pace but the pain would come back intensely. I tried feeling the pace which would allow me to run and not feel the pain too much at the same time. I hang on to a 7:00 minutes per kilometer pace.

I still had 5K to go at 6:00 of the race. There was no way I’d finish in sub-6:15. The abdominal cramp slowed me down big time.

I still had a kilometer to go at 6:30. CWC was within sight. There were bits of sharp pain on my right calf due to impending cramps but it didn’t prosper.

Within the last 200 meters, I felt I still had some calories left in my tank to sprint to the finish, and sprint I did.

Crossed the line in 6:38, almost 20 minutes better than last year. I wasn’t dead tired upon crossing the finish line. I handled the course well this time.

Philippine Ironman 70.3 2011 in Camsur didn’t beat me to a pulp in its biggest edition. My team, Quest 825, trained well for this event and everyone finished strong. In fact, I was 2nd to the last who finished among the 9 of us who joined the race, and to think that I was the only one who have raced it 3x in a row only shows how big a leap Quest 825 have made in its performance.

Glory be to God for a safe race!

Thank you to my wife, Carol, who has kept up with my early morning workouts and early night trips to dreamland.

Thank you to Potencee and Immuvit for the support!

‘Til the next race!