Challenge Subic Bay
Writing this a long time after the fact it is hard to remember exactly what happened, so I will try to keep this one short.
I was lucky enough to be able to come over to the Subic to test out the bike course about a month before the race. Thank you to Timex-Gold's Gym TMM for helping me over here and supporting as always. I was surprised that the hills hurt me that much and I thought I better get some good training in over the next month to cater.
Well maybe I needed more training than I did, as I hurt, really bad.
The Swim,
I managed to have a goodish swim, it was a little slow but that has to do with the no training. I got off to a good start and not all that crowded. I do like beach starts. The water was pretty clear and was able to see a fare way down to the bottom. I didn't like that one bit. Having a big fear of ocean swimming I thought that being able to see the bottom would help.... nope, I was wrong.
I was swimming pretty much by myself with one other person sitting on my toes. I was catching the professionals and feeling pretty comfortable. The swim is over the WW2 ship wreckages and we were able to see a lot of it. Just as I was getting to the main part where could see them, I managed to catch one of the pro women, she was going a little bit slow for me but I sat her toes to try and keep me calm with the wrecks beneath us.
It Didn't Work……After about a minute of swimming behind her I saw a shining light and big bubble of air coming to the surface right underneath me. It didn't cross my mind that it was a scuba diver, all that went through my mind was "oh shit get me out of here". So I quickly took to the front and pushed the pace. I probably exhausted myself doing it but oh well, I came out in one piece :)
The Bike,
It was straight out of transition and into the first climb. It was a bit of a struggle putting on my shoes but I eventually got them on about 5km in. I started out pretty conservative, or so I thought and was trying to keep a high cadence up the hills and take good calculated risks going down. I found that I was making up some good ground on the descents.
I got to the turnaround and started to feel a little tired, the hills were deffinately starting to take there toll. It was a little bit of a flat to downhill after the turn for a km or 2 and then straight back into the hills, and thats where I cracked. It was struggle street all the way back home. I had no power and barely able to keep the pedals turning. I had taken in the nutrition I had planned and was in pretty good mental state, I just had no power to pass the hills.
The Run,
I got off the bike and was so very happy. I still wasn't too far behind but my legs were not in a good shape. It was a pretty technical run course that kept us guessing the whole time. I never really knew where I was or where I was going. All i know t=is that I was hurting and had to keep on going to the finish.
On some of the small hills on the final lap I literally had to lift my legs with my hands to make them move forward. I had absolutely no power or strength left in them. I was in a big world of hurt with only 2km to go but I just had to keep on going. I finally came good again not long after that but it was short lived. I remember seeing some photos of me in the last stage capturing the deteriorating state I was in.
I finally manage to cross the finish line and receive my medal. 5:54 was my time. what a horrible effort that was. Straight after the finish line there were stairs we had to go up to get to the massage/recovery area, and I could not climb them. I ended up getting a couple of the spectators help me to get up. In the massage area all I was doing was screaming, they ended up by asking me to leave and get some water and food in me and then come back when the muscles had relaxed by themselves.
The after party wasn't all that exciting, as everyone was way too tired to do anything. It was a long hot day and we all just went straight to bed.
I still haven't learnt my lesson of leaving training up to the last minute, but I am so grateful to have finished the hardest race I have ever done.
I was lucky enough to be able to come over to the Subic to test out the bike course about a month before the race. Thank you to Timex-Gold's Gym TMM for helping me over here and supporting as always. I was surprised that the hills hurt me that much and I thought I better get some good training in over the next month to cater.
Well maybe I needed more training than I did, as I hurt, really bad.
The Swim,
I managed to have a goodish swim, it was a little slow but that has to do with the no training. I got off to a good start and not all that crowded. I do like beach starts. The water was pretty clear and was able to see a fare way down to the bottom. I didn't like that one bit. Having a big fear of ocean swimming I thought that being able to see the bottom would help.... nope, I was wrong.
I was swimming pretty much by myself with one other person sitting on my toes. I was catching the professionals and feeling pretty comfortable. The swim is over the WW2 ship wreckages and we were able to see a lot of it. Just as I was getting to the main part where could see them, I managed to catch one of the pro women, she was going a little bit slow for me but I sat her toes to try and keep me calm with the wrecks beneath us.
It Didn't Work……After about a minute of swimming behind her I saw a shining light and big bubble of air coming to the surface right underneath me. It didn't cross my mind that it was a scuba diver, all that went through my mind was "oh shit get me out of here". So I quickly took to the front and pushed the pace. I probably exhausted myself doing it but oh well, I came out in one piece :)
The Bike,
It was straight out of transition and into the first climb. It was a bit of a struggle putting on my shoes but I eventually got them on about 5km in. I started out pretty conservative, or so I thought and was trying to keep a high cadence up the hills and take good calculated risks going down. I found that I was making up some good ground on the descents.
I got to the turnaround and started to feel a little tired, the hills were deffinately starting to take there toll. It was a little bit of a flat to downhill after the turn for a km or 2 and then straight back into the hills, and thats where I cracked. It was struggle street all the way back home. I had no power and barely able to keep the pedals turning. I had taken in the nutrition I had planned and was in pretty good mental state, I just had no power to pass the hills.
The Run,
I got off the bike and was so very happy. I still wasn't too far behind but my legs were not in a good shape. It was a pretty technical run course that kept us guessing the whole time. I never really knew where I was or where I was going. All i know t=is that I was hurting and had to keep on going to the finish.
On some of the small hills on the final lap I literally had to lift my legs with my hands to make them move forward. I had absolutely no power or strength left in them. I was in a big world of hurt with only 2km to go but I just had to keep on going. I finally came good again not long after that but it was short lived. I remember seeing some photos of me in the last stage capturing the deteriorating state I was in.
I finally manage to cross the finish line and receive my medal. 5:54 was my time. what a horrible effort that was. Straight after the finish line there were stairs we had to go up to get to the massage/recovery area, and I could not climb them. I ended up getting a couple of the spectators help me to get up. In the massage area all I was doing was screaming, they ended up by asking me to leave and get some water and food in me and then come back when the muscles had relaxed by themselves.
The after party wasn't all that exciting, as everyone was way too tired to do anything. It was a long hot day and we all just went straight to bed.
I still haven't learnt my lesson of leaving training up to the last minute, but I am so grateful to have finished the hardest race I have ever done.
