It’s been a little more than a year since I started being a crazy triathlon person and the perfect time for a race recap of my first triathlon! It’s crazy to think how much has changed since this race. I moved back from New York to Hong Kong and was feeling pretty down. I was having lunch with a few friends on day and heard that they were thinking of doing a triathlon in November, I was super keen to try it out as well but that was around April and it did not make sense for me to wait 7 months for that race. I decided to do some research on my own and found a race in Subic Bay in June. No one else wanted to do it with me so I just signed up by myself! I was SO clueless back then, I still remember asking my friends whether the race provided bikes for the athletes LOL! After finding out that we had to get our own bikes, I scurried off to a bike shop to get a bike. Can we take some time to look at how many EXTRA things were on my bike?! Especially these ridiculous extra set of brakes in the middle. The bike shop was trying to be nice, but they seemed to think I was going for a ride in the park even though I specified it was for racing. Luckily… for my second race I had taken off a lot of random stuff from my bike and now I actually have a new bike.

I didn’t have a ton of time to train. I actually only rode the bike a few times outside and swam in the ocean once. I did a few brick workouts (run and bike) at the gym and also did a lot of hiit training. My parents were super concerned about me going alone to this race and asked me to look up some local clubs to see if anyone was also going. I was pretty casual about it and decided that it would be ok for me to just go by myself. Subic Bay was a little out of the way and you had to fly to Clark Airport and then a 1 hour car ride. I was ok taking a taxi but my parents insisted on booking a hotel van which I appreciated when I got there.

I had NO idea how to pack my bike and brought it back to the bike shop so they could put it in the box for me. I was hoping that I would be able to see how they took it apart and put it in the box but unfortunately they did not have time and said I just had to come and pick it up the next day. I had so much anxiety because I had no idea what they were going to do with the bike and poured over as many YouTube videos as possible.

Finally it was race time! After the one hour ride I arrived at my hotel and instantly started to open the box and attempt to put my bike together. I arrived on Saturday afternoon which means I do not have a ton of time to check in. I tried my best to put the bike together but could not figure out how to put on the front wheel…. I ended up going to the athlete check in and expo with the front wheel still off and just holding the bike up.  Luckily the bike mechanics helped me fix everything and I was ready to go! On the way I met another solo female triathlete named Jocelyn who lived in Abu Dhabi. She reminded me that the bike check in was closing soon and that I should probably go now! I told her it was my first race and she casually said she’s done only a few as well. However, I could not help but notice the multiple Ironman merchandise and suspected that she was pretty hardcore when she said she trains two times a week everyday!

After checking in all my stuff at transition I was ready to get back to the expo for the feast. I loaded my plate with lots of meats and some sweet spaghetti.. not sure if this is the best for me before the race but it tasted like kiddy heaven. After the meal, we went back to the hotel… I could definitely felt the nerves and excitement as I set my alarm for 4 am and went to bed.

Beautiful race morning!! The atmosphere is electric. That feeling when the gun goes off and you’re running towards the ocean is so exhilarating and hard to describe. The swim was pretty decent given that I had hardly practiced but the lack of practice really shows when I was getting out of the ocean to T1 and the bike. I was huffing and puffing quite a bit and the first segment of the bike course was also a little bit of an uphill. Suddenly it was pouring rain and I could hardly see anything. I tried to put my sunglasses on and almost took out a pro… whoops. The rain was plummeting down and it was getting pretty difficult. My contact suddenly was super painful in my eye and I tried to stop to fix it. Unfortunately I was unable to stop and instead slid hard into a large puddle in the ground and fell over. One of the workers quickly came to my aid and I was off again!

By the time it was the run, the rain had stopped and the sun was blazing hot. The run was a back and forth and felt like forever even though it was just 10 km! I passed by my hotel and I secretly thought of how nice it would be to just run to the lobby and pass out in the hotel. Obviously I did not do that but continued on and was so glad to see the turn around point! The final segment of the run is around a track which sucks because it just feels so much longer but once I see the finish line I started accelerating and boom I was done with my first triathlon!!

I was hooked. That was so much fun! There were a lot of little mistakes and areas of improvement, but I was more than happy with the experience. The transitions are so exciting where you are trying to move and change as fast as possible. You will also never be bored because you know there is another segment coming up soon. I also loved the camaraderie of the community, even though I traveled alone, I met a number of great people who I still keep in touch with now!

After the race, Jocelyn and I went to a local restaurant for a Philipino buffet feast! We both probably ate 3 huge plates of food and then we went to Krispy Kreme. I am so glad that I finally got out of my comfort zone and tried something I’ve always said I would do. Triathlons are now such a major part of my life and it would have never known if I just stayed where I was! It was definitely quite an adventure with me going by myself but I would not change a thing.