The class I attended was organized by John Clements, part of their Executive MBA program that they have in partnership with FEU. The speaker was Dr. Steven DeKrey from HKUST, who gave us a day long seminar on Leadership Priorities in Asia. There was a lively discussion as most of the participants were seasoned executives as well as professors in the MBA faculty. I had a great time listening to the insights shared by my classmates.

The FEU school in Makati is the latest academic institution to add a Makati presence. Offhand I can think of Mapua along Buendia, Lyceum somewhere in Salcedo, of course Dela Salle and Ateneo have always been there, CEU I think also has a presence. This makes sense as it makes them closer to the corporate world, making their students and faculty more or less attuned to the industry

Filipino time is actually what Philip Zimbardo calls event time. According to him (he of the famous Stanford prison experiment), historically, there are two types of reckoning time practiced by people in the world: clock time and event time.

Clock time, which is to follow the clock on the dot, is followed by people in temperate countries, in which the seasons are clearly marked. Time is followed as something external to them.

On the other hand, event time is followed by people in countries near the equator, in which there are no seasons, and everyday throughout the year seems the same. In this case, events are started when people “feel” like it, not so much the external indication of a clock. That’s why the additional function of a host is to determine when to start, say 15 minutes after, or when there are enough people.

Filipino time is kind of tricky because we are in a kind of dichotomy where we live in a environment of both clock time and event time. Clock time for business meetings, and event time for social gatherings. In between, we have to get clues as to the actual start, watching out for messages such as “We will start on time”, or “Please come 5 minutes before the time”.

Why don’t we just say what clock to follow: event time or clock time. Clock time means we will start on time. Event time means come when you please!

I like Toodledo because it’s web-based and can synch with an Iphone app. In this way, I can add my to-do list, whether I’m in the office or on the go. The web site is free to use, but you have to pay one dollar for the app, which is not that bad.

It has the usual fields like due date and priority. What’s new are fields for Context (this refers to places like Office, House, Shopping, so you can filter your list depending where you are) and Goals.

I usually go through phases in using To do applications, ranging from Notepad to the Iphone calendar notes. Toodledo, which I have been using for about a month, seems promising, although occassionally I revert to Notepad and plain old paper.

Last weekend, the same symptoms happened. Again it could have been running again on a full stomach, or bad water. Almost by instinct, I remembered to take Yakult. What could have been another 48 hours of diarrhea was prevented. So that’s why I’m now a regular Yakult drinker.

By coincidence, an article about probiotics appeared in Wall Street Journal, talking about the benefits of taking Yogurt and other probiotic food. It says that having good balance in our digestive system actually reduces stresses. In other words, stomach problems cause stress and anxiety, not the other way around!

So here’s to the good bacteria in our stomachs. I am now a Yakult and Yogurt fan. Ok ba tyan?

In any case, summer arrived too early this year: hot blazing sun, cloudless days, dripping perspiration, sunburnt skin. Had to dig out my fuel belt flasks and look for some sunblock.

A great discovery I had last year was a pool just next door to my office – the Army pool in Fort Bonficacio. For me, it’s more convenient than MASA: it opens earlier, closes later, has fewer people (at least on weekday mornings, and hopefully not a lot more when this gets published!), and is just as clean as MASA. You can view the map here. Fee is 75 pesos.

There’s even a 1-kilometer track across the street, which goes around the Army parade ground. You just need to cross a bridge to the other side. Perfect for a swim-run. Don’t forget the Coppertone, it’s an open track with hardly any tree cover. That’s right, it’s a breakout year, not only for triathlon, but also for Coppertone!

See you guys in Subic !

In any case, I wasn’t entirely inactive during my months-long break. I was working on several things: trying to incorporate mid-foot strike running (I have my wornout soles to prove it), improving my swimming glide (or rather, adding a glide to my swim that didn’t seem to have one), and otherwise having fun going biking up the steep hills of Sierra Madre.

In the process I have learned new things and met new people. This is what makes triathlon so exciting; there is always room for improvement and growth, and this triathlon season promises to be as eventful as the previous one. I hope to write more things in the coming days and weeks, and so my to my faithful three readers, stay tuned

Woooohooo I just finished an Ironman race.

Pre-race

My flight to Naga was Saturday 6:15 am. My bike was brought by car by my brother, so no bike check-in hassles.

We arrived Naga after a short flight, greeted by a brass band, and local girls putting leis on us.

We were going to stay in Naga city, outside the CWC venue. After breakfast, we proceeded to CWC to get our race kit, and check in our bikes and gears. It was a festive atmosphere in CWC, with lots of banners, people milling around the booths, triathletes checking their stuff, doing some more practice. I saw Macca and company still doing some running.

I made a test swim in the lake, and biked around the CWC area to test the bike as well. Orientation was held in the afternoon. One last check on the bike and transition bags, and went back to Naga for dinner and rest.

The Race

Race start was at 7 am. We woke up at 3:30 am, had a quick breakfast and proceeded to CWC. We arrived around 5am. I filled my bottles with Gatorade, taped the Gu gels on the bike, made a final check on my Bike and Run transition bags. Proceeded to body marking (no. 256) and went for a quick warm-up swim.

The Swim

It was a mass start for age grouper and the pros. The pros were positioned in the waters, treading in the deep part already, while the age groupers were on shore. When the horn start sounded, it was total mayhem, as can be expected when  400 swimmers kicking and flailing at the same time.

Water visibility was absolutely zero; it was like swimming blind. I was getting kicked and elbowed on all sides. Imagine being on the receiving end of a 2-beat kick, it’s the equivalent to getting kicked every second.  In other words, this wasn’t only swimming, it was defensive karate as well! At some point my goggles were kicked loose I had to stop to reposition it. My swim cap was also getting loose all the while. I must have dranked a lot of water I was getting bloated already. I was swimming in a zig zag manner going from side to side instead of straight out.

The second loop was a bit easier as there were already fewer swimmers, and the buoys were more visible. I checked my watch as I got off the lake: 54min.  I was expecting my time to be a bit faster, but with all the chaos the chaos out there, I had to settle for it.

The Bike

Transition to bike was quite fast. Helmet on, race belt on, shades on, gloves on, bike shoes on, gulp of gatorade, and I was off. The plan was simple. Try to average 32kph, finish one bottle of gatorade every 15km (or every aid station), and one Gu gel every 45 minutes.

It was an amazing sight looking at all the school children who lined up practically the entire stretch of the bike route. They were waving little yellow ironman flags, and cheering the bikers. I must say that it really does pump you up, and brings out a little more speed in you.

I could hear the kids chanting over and over, “Go Ironman, Ironman, Go Go Go”.  The girls would be shrieking as if celebrities were passing.

The bike route was relatively flat, although there were some rolling parts. I think I averaged more than 32 kph fo the first hour, probably because of the excitement, the cheering and the still fresh legs.

At the second hour, I was exactly at the 60 km mark, which meant I was down to 30kph average. At this point my legs were threatening  to cramp. That’s when I remembered to eat my anchovy sandwich, my salt source. Compared to last year when I was fumbling to get my sandwich, this time it was neatly placed on my Bento boxes, already cut down to bite size. The saltiness was a nice contrast to the sharp taste of Gatorade and the sweetness of the Gu. Somehow the cramps disappeared.

As I got to an aid station, I would come to a full stop, re-fill my aero-bottle and speed off. Mental note: practice getting the Gatorade bottle on the fly, and refilling on the move. Hmm maybe next year.

I tried to double-time on the last hour, my target was to finish in less than 3 hours. I managed to arrive back to CWC in 2:56.(average 31kph)

The Run

Transition to run took me a bit longer. Bike shoes/ socks off, helmet/shades/gloves off. Run shoes/socks on, running cap on, swig of gatorade, and off to the run. All in all it took me more than 4 minutes.

As I started the run, my total time was at 3:57. Still on course for my target. My run plan was to do the first 10K in 1:10, second 10K in 1:15, and the last 1K in 0:07, for a total of 2:32.

The run route took us to the farm part of the town, going through narrow barangay roads. There were aid stations every 1.5 km. School children were also cheering all over. I reached the 5k turnaround aid station in 32 minutes. It was the most energizing aid station, with a cool shade, and a lady doing a one-person cheering squad. The bananas were great, I should have eaten more.

As I went back towards CWC, the sun was at its peak, and at this point I had to slow down to a walk. The heat was just too much, my body slowing to a walk almost automatically. I reached the first 10k mark at 1:15.

The second loop became more business-like. The school children had gone already (after all it was past lunchtime). The sun was still bearing on us. Everything was still. Just the sound of tired feet shuffling. Looking around, you can see the the running/walking wounded. One guy with a bandage on his eye, must have been kicked in the swim. Another one with a nastly elbow wound, still fresh, from a bike spill.

By this time, the aid stations were already serving Coke. Nothing like sugar to keep us going.

According to my most optimistic target, I could finish to finish in 6:22. By the time I reached the 20K run mark, it was already 6:32. I adjusted my target to finish below 6:40. I had one kilometer and about 8 min to go. Normally this should be easy to do, but after swimming, biking and running 112 km, the last kilometer is always the hardest. In fact I had to walk again at some point here. It was a nice gesture that there were 2 foreign pros at the last 200 meters encouraging us on to finish strong. I crossed the finish line at 6:39 on the clock.

Race results here.

Two weeks to go before the big day. Registration has already closed. Turning down the training volume before the final taper.

Scrolling through the athlete list, I see big names like Chris McCormack – the 2007 Ironman Champion, Terenzo Bozzone, the reigning Ironman 70.3 Champion, and others such as Cameron Brown, Emma Bishop, Bree Wee.

Seeing such champions, it feels like joining a basketball league with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James playing. Or maybe it’s how Angola felt while playing against the Dream Team with Michael Jordan and gang.

Who do yo think will win the race? It’s being billed as the clash of the Tri-tans, a toss-up among Terrezo Bozzone, Chris McCormack, and Cameron Brown.  Cast your vote here.

Aside from 400+ individual competitors, there are 50+ relay teams, which include the likes of Olympic swimmer Akiko Thompson, running coach Rio “Runrio” dela Cruz, Padyak Pinoy champion Santy Barnachea.