Brenda Santos is an experienced Ironman athlete who has experienced both the thrill of victory and the agony of the feet! She documented her recent trip to her birthplace in the Philippines on her Facebook account, along with a full version of this race report. Not many triathletes get private bike transfer by the military. And that’s just the start of her story. Read on and check out Brenda’s Facebook page.
Pre-Race
Uneventful. Chills (and tears) as they played the Philippine national anthem. Was so proud to be racing in my homeland.
🏊♀️Swim : 1.9 km (1:12:36)
Personal WORST. I started out strong. Water was quite calm. The usual washing machine at the beginning of everyone entering the water and heading for the first turn buoy 100m away. But there was no panic. Ocean swim, no wetsuit; I was confident as these conditions were not new to me. I went out hard but then got into a rhythm after the first turn.
500m @ 500 m @ 2:20/100m
500 m @ 2:24/100m ….Was on my way to my best swim ever … but then things took a turn for the worse.
Then return trip back was chaotic. I was stuck behind some really slow swimmers and was trying swim through and around them. I think a lot of people lied about their seeding. I am normally able to sight really well and swim straight, but today, I didn’t even swim the proper rectangle of the course. Everyone was just having a tough time fighting the current and I think everyone had a rough swim. For context, I heard about 100 people didn’t make the swim cut-off and about 300 people had slower swim times than me.
🚴♀️ Bike (90km. Made it to 40km – 1:43.14)
The bike course was six times over the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) – the longest (8.9km) and highest (145m) bridge in the Philippines. Definitely not the flat course they promised us. Great views. Smooth roads. Had some fun on the descents (even though in one direction had some strong headwind). Stopped at 40km. Long story short : heat exhaustion. 38 deg (feels like 50 deg). I have never experience that kind of heat before! Received two units of IV (1 L).
Disappointed? Definitely. A DNF (Did Not Finish) always a tough pill to swallow. Did I have fun? Absolutely! Best race experience! Probably the loudest and most crowds lining the streets cheering I’ve experienced in any race. Met some great people and most of all, having cousins from many parts of the country to come cheer me on in person.
