Indoor Duathlon Challenge by Fitness and Athletics

Two years ago (2011), I have visualized myself that by now I should have already finished an Aquathlon event, but that did not happen as I can't give focus on swim trainings or even a regular dip on the pool. Last year, I bought an MTB (mountain bike) just to break myself from being on a regular hiatus from running and I thought that maybe a year from then, I would be able to join an off-road Duathlon already. But all those plans hasn't come into fruition yet aside from the separate events of being able to join a fund-raising-cycling event for different causes (one for the Pasig River, and one for the Cordillera Forest Building).

The Invitation

June 22, while claiming my race kit for the 2013 World Vision Run in BGC, I came across with the ever-cheerful Ms. Arleen Lindo, Marketing Manager of Chris Sports/Fitness & Athletics. She enthusiastically told me about the ongoing Indoor Duathlon challenge, of which one athlete has just crossed the "finish line" inside the Fitness and Athletics store in BGC. I have already came across this event a few days before but never got interest to try it since I know how boring the treadmill and stationary bike is.

But not until Ms. Arleen was able to convince me, so right then and there, I registered for the challenge and chose a schedule when I can start my own race. No pressure naman pala! =)

Duathlete

July 4 - After attending my Son's 5th birthday celebration in school, I grabbed my pack and headed towards BGC for my 4:00PM schedule together with a friend - Alvin who was forced by unplanned circumstances to also take part on the Duathlon challenge. Now there's an inner competition between us! We were first allowed to have a few minutes of warm-up on the treadmill, followed by a short briefing about the equipments that we're going to use - the Intenza full commercial grade treadmill for the run legs and Pro-Form Le Tour de France (LTdF) stationary bike trainer for the bike leg.

1st leg - 3K treadmill run

Unlike on running races, I don't know how to attack the first leg of the event, if I should go all out or conserve my energy for the upcoming bike and final run. Thinking that the bike leg will use a different set of muscle compared to running, I began to increase my speed from 11-12 kph at the first 1.5-kms up to the max speed that I can handle at 13-kph finishing the first 3K run in 00:14:50++ mins. I got a bit dizzy and all sweaty on this leg alone!

2nd leg - 20K bike on the Pro-Form Le Tour de France

On the bike leg, I was fully surprised at how heavy the pedals felt even though my starting gear was just at 2x5 (2nd gear for the front, 5th gear on the rear), the maximum gear is 3x10. Immediately I adjusted it down to 1x3, and played it in between up to maximum shifting of 2x5 (in standing position). Mostly I couldn't even hardly maintain the gears at 2x3!

The very high-tech Pro-Form LTdF Bike trainer uses Google maps to mimic an actual route of the Tour de France

What's great about the Pro-Form LTdF bike is that aside from the gear adjustment on the monitor, there's also shifters on the handle bars, almost mimicking an actual bike. But what's hard about the LTdF trainer bike is that unlike an actual roadie, or even comparing it to my pedaling experience with my MTB, its distance and speed would go down as soon as you stopped spinning. There's much greater resistance and no free-spinning assisted by the speed and momentum that you have previously gained. My quads were already burning while I'm still at 10-km distance.

Alvin, on the other hand, was spinning on the bike much stronger at 2x8 gear. He finished ahead of me on the bike leg and was able to start his last 2k run leg while I was still cramming from the remaining 3-kms on the bike. Finally after 1:10:00++ hrs, I was on the 2nd transition, much more dizzy with burning quads and almost out of strength to even talk.

2K final chase to the Finish line

At the final 2K run, I would've wanted to run as fast as the first leg but my strength was almost already drained during the bike leg. It was hard for me to maintain more than 12-kph speed but I forced to retain it between 11.8 to 12.3-kph with the pressure I'm getting from Alvin who's already more than ahead of me. But lo, he crossed strong at the finish line with a total time of 1:31:xx hours while I still have about 800-meters to go.

I was already feeling heavy, right calves are having cramps but the inner me is saying that the competition was still on. After more than 10-mins for the 2k run, I also crossed the finish line still happy and amazed that for the first time, I completed such indoor distance without having experienced the boredom that I'm dreading!

Conclusion

The indoor Duathlon challenge is a great venue for both aspiring Duathletes and even for the seasoned ones. Although there's an absence of the surrounding views, varying slopes, terrains, traffic and all, the Pro-Form LTdF still proves to be a bike trainer that will really challenge your biking strength.

Officially, an Indoor Duathlete

I wasn't that happy with my finish time, so in the next coming weeks, I'll be going back to Fitness and Athletics to try and beat my own time. Will I see you there?

For those who have not yet tried or are curious about this first-of-its-kind event in the Country, head on now to Fitness and Athletics and join the challenge. There are still slots available until the end of August.

Check out a few more photos below, and also, watch out for my next post featuring our elite Triathletes at the Indoor Duathlon Challenge.