Pushing Boundaries | Wake Up And Smell The Coffee

“A triathlete’s worst trait is that we simply don’t know when to give up”. In light of the tragedy that happened in Tri United 1, wherein we lost a fellow triathlete, I just can’t help but think about some of the things that happened to me last year. As everyone knows, I missed Ironman Cebu 70.3 because of severe anemia. I got out of the hospital exactly 1 week before the race and as expected, I was dead set on competing. Hey, how hard can a 70.3 be right? I did 4 Ironman’s already!

My doctor, when I asked if I can still race, gave me a very brief, but direct answer..  “Yes, but you can die”.

“Damn”, I said to myself. That one liner stopped me on my tracks and really made me think.

“But it’s just a 70.3”, “Easy pace lang naman all the way”, “I’ll just cruise to the finish”, “I haven’t missed a major race that I signed up for!”, “I’m the king of the world!”.

Sound familiar? You can think of all the excuses in the world, and you can bet, I said it.

I weighed all of that, and thought about my races prior to the 70.3, “Ok, let’s back track..”

Subit = Snapped rear derailleur cable
5150 = 2 flat tires
Tri United 2 = flat tire + anemia
Missed all my “all out interval sessions” = too fatigued to wake up

Damn, am I on the roll or what?  Tri United 2 race was the killer because I had no idea that  anemia was already kicking in, WHILE I WAS RACING.

During the swim, I just felt completely flat. On the bike, I had no power and my legs were not firing. There was even a point when, I stomped my legs really hard and shouted “COME ON!!! PEDAL #!@!@#!”. Newbies and other riders, who I usually pass or leave behind on the bike, were passing me as if I’m in a standstill. I just had no power and the scariest part was, I couldn’t breathe! I had to unzip my top all the way down (aerodynamics be damned), just so I could cool myself  and make breathing a little easier. The back part of my head was starting to hurt really bad as well.

And the run? We’ll, let’s just say that I’m just glad I finished the damn thing.

I told that to my doctor and she said that I was really lucky my heart is  strong because of all the training and racing that I did before. Aside from that, I have enough experience to lower the intensity when I’m not feeling well and just cruise to the finish. Simply put, I could have died (Yes, for some reason she uses that term a lot!). I dodged a huge bullet that day. Because the symptoms that I was experiencing are those of a severe anemia attack.

After my battle with dengue the previous year, this is just great. Now I have anemia?

I had no power and couldn’t breathe because the oxygen in my blood was so low. To make up for it, my heart had to work double time just so that it could supply my entire body with oxygen. That’s the reason why I was experiencing chest pains and could feel my heart beating really hard.  I was having headaches because my brain was not getting the amount of oxygen that it needs to function properly.

During the race, I never thought about anemia or any other illness. I just relegated what’s happening to me to the fact that maybe, I was under trained or was just having a bad day.

And that’s where the danger lies. Like what I said above, us triathletes are so used to the pain that we simply don’t know when to give up or push the panic button. Sometimes, we just get so caught up in our training schedule and what the other athletes are doing. We are all masochists. We love pain. Otherwise, why do we all go back to the starting line of the next race to experience it all over again?

Triathlon is hard. Given what we had to through during training, it’s just normal for us to push ourselves to the limit on race day. That’s what we all trained for right?

But is it all about crossing the finish line? Before, for me, it was.

But now? I know that there’s more to life than a podium finish or finishing a race. I don’t kill myself anymore if I miss a training session.

Didn’t get enough rest? Then no training for me. I’ve come to the reality that all those setbacks, is maybe God’s way of holding me back. To make sure that I don’t go over the limit.

Like what iron Art of Tri Clark,  always tells me, “Nothing more to prove bro”.

And in some ways, yes, he is right.  Even if under trained, I truly enjoy the sport now compared to when I was training really hard 24/7.

I may be getting faster splits back then, but chasing P.R.’s made me lose sight of what makes this sport really special.

As my triathlon idol, Normann Stadler once said.. “Whatever happens, there’s always going to be sunrise and sunset the next day.”

This post is not meant to be a pity party, I’m done with that. But this is one aspect of my life that I’ll never get tired of sharing because I know, this might someday, save a life.

Wake up and smell the coffee folks. For age groupers like us, it’s the journey that makes this sport truly addicting.

Thanks for reading,

CDG

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