Race Report - Speedo Aquathlon

I had been nervously waiting for this race for the past week and so, at 4:30 am, I was up. Not any amount of water, milk or sheep counting would put me back to sleep...so like a true Web Junky I did the next best thing - I surfed the Internet.

Finally, my alarm went off. I prepared my typical pre-race meal - Peanut butter sandwich.


By the time I arrived in ULTRA, the SuperTriKids were about to start. It's a blast watching these kids compete. Even better, is watching their stage parents egging them on, or running beside them hoping they'd push harder. Watching them made me wish I had started at a much younger age.

This little girl took full advantage of a quick transition - she put on Crocs! Howver, She got caught by that little boy

Shortly after, Coach Rick conducted his race briefing in waves. He detailed both the swim and run portions - making sure nobody would make a mistake.

The swim was a typical TRAP pool swim - we were to tackle 950 meters. This consists of getting in and out of the pool several times. The 950m were broken up in 3 segments - 350-400-200. After the first 350 meters of zig-zagging across lanes, you have to get out of the pool, run down and re-enter. Then, after the next 400 meters, you once again exit, make a dash and re-enter for the final 200 meters.

The run would be short but testy. It consisted of 2 loops within the ULTRA complex then the final 600 meters inside the track oval. There were 2 hills within the run route, which meant we would be tackling 4 hills in just 3km.

By the looks of it, it was gonna be a short and fast race. Pedal-to-the-metal, redline, HRM-beeping-Zone-5-all-the-way kinda race. Not a bad way so start a Sunday.

We 'middle-aged' (30-49 yrs old) were the last wave to be let off. It was about 8am by then - oooooofff HEAT! Our wave was led off by National Swimming Coach Guy Concepcion, who obviously posted the day's fastest swim time of 13:00 - DAMN!

The riot swim start

And we were off - I stayed in the inner lane, so as to avoid some of the confusion brought about by a pool start. That way, I would only have to worry about someone on my right - unless of course some daredevil skims the stainless steel lane dividers.

After a lap or two, I felt the group thin out. I was in a pack of 4-5 swimmers then, consisting of Paolo Diaz (I could tell by his Phiten Tape), JonJon Rufino (I could tell by the full body suit), Tony Welsch (PoloTri) and 2 other guys. I knew these were all good swimmers, so I hung on for as long as I could.

Its actually Swim-Run-Swim-Run-Swim-RUN!

Finally, 17 and a half minutes later, I was getting out of the pool. A quick transition, sip of water, and off I was to the run. The hills were tough, especially that one right before the pool. I felt like I was on a stair climber. Just as you were recovering from that one, there was another one waiting. I just held on and pushed to finish the race.

At the top of that testy hill right in front of the Pool

I finished in 31 minutes and change, well within my target. Shortly after came JonJon Rufino (PoloTri), Hector (Pinoy Ultra Runners), Jody (Transition One) and Paolo. The race was what I expected - short, fast yet tough. There is no recovering in a race like this. Like a 5k race, its a hard push from start to finish.

Short, but Sweet!

In the absence of the elites, I was lucky enough to post the 9th fastest time of the day, and bag a podium spot in my age group (30-34). What a surprise :)

'Til next time!

With Paolo and my teammate Jody (who finished 3rd)

*Thanks to Trigger Happy Hannah for the photos