Oct 9, 2017

Powerman Duathlon Clark Pampanga




Last year, I participated in the Powerman Duathlon (5km run-60km bike-5km run) Relay event with a friend. This year, I decided to go solo but only do the short event: 5km run-30km bike-5km run.  Despite decades of experience in racing, each one I join still gives me the jitters up to this day and this duathlon is no exception.  First of all, this is my first duathlon race and a lingering knee injury didn't make me feel quite confident about it.  Second, I felt that I may have a bit of a problem transitioning from the 30km bike to 5km run. I had no idea how my body would feel after and it's something I did not exactly train for.  Third, we were informed that the race start for our event would be at 7:45am. Though I usually complain about the extremely early race starts, I thought that the later gun start would find us participants racing under the scorching heat of Clark and would most likely be a factor in one's performance.  Naturally, my knack for overthinking situations sent my anxiety up the roof. My only game plan was to try my best to stay focused and pray that I just finish alive.

So the “horn" gun sounded exactly at 7:45 and we were off for the first leg, the 5km run.  I took it easy from the get go to conserve my energy. I was surprised that my body felt quite good so I decided to pick up the pace.  As expected, it was an easy transition from the 5km run to bike. The 30km bike route was great. We went around Clark and headed towards SCTEX which proved to be a bit of a challenge because of the headwinds and rolling hills. Then came the dreaded transition from bike to the last 5km run. Even if I still felt good, I took it easy for the first 400 meters but when my body seemed to be responding well, I again decided to pick up the pace. I went for a sprint on the last 400 meters and was ecstatic to finish strong with still so much energy left. 

The Powerman Duathlon 2017 was an eye-opening experience for me. All my nervous anxiety were for nothing. I was feeling really good. The knee was well-behaved. I must say I was extremely happy with my performance and the weather was even cooperative with an even mix of sunny & cloudy tempered with light cool winds. Sad to say, however, I didn't even get a decent tan after 2 hours under the sun. 

Dealing with an injury can often leave one in a rut yet we try to keep going. There are good days and there are bad days. For this race, it was a very good day. It felt really good to be in good form once again and confident enough to push myself and pick up the pace. I could almost  feel the old “runningshield" coming back. Perhaps with the proper therapy and a healthy mind set, I may just opt do a longer Duathlon event or who knows.... perhaps another marathon race in the near future. What was once was a dream is now evolving into a plan. Who knows what can happen if I just keep going. 

Congratulations to the PowerMan Organizer for yet another successful and well-thought out event. Loved every minute and you can count me in for next year! 
 Waiting for the " Horn " Start
 Done with the 1st leg. ( Run portion )
 Changing Area for the 2nd leg. ( bike portion )


The last portion, RUN  !!!! feeling Strong 
Sunset on Lahar Country
The Event Village - from Powerman FB.

                   
Guess ;-)
Pics with some friends