Last night, i was able to take a first-hand peek of the ongoing Indoor Duathlon Competition for elites inside theĀ Fitness and Athletics Sports Store at the Bonifacio Global City. I was invited by no less than Ms. Arleen Lindo, Chris Sports’ Marketing Manager to witness the activity itself, a 3km run, a 20km bike and another 2km run.
The indoor duathlon event, the first in the country is using special equipment that have been tested in fitness gyms all over the world. For the run, the Intenza Entertainment 550 TE Treadmill is being used while the Pro-Form Le Tour De France stationary trainers are for the transition to the bike part. What’s great about both equipment is that you draw the route anywhere in the world from Google Maps which can be downloaded automatically to the machines.
I was with a group of media people, bloggers, sports celebrities and other enthusiasts to witness two sports celebrities compete not against each other but against the clock and i was amazed on the determination of both competitors as they muscled their way as if they were competing outdoors.
Sandra Araullo-Gonzales on the bike trainer
Doing the duathlon side by side were top triathlete Sandra Araullo-Gonzales, a two-time South East Asian Games Silver Medalist for triathlon/ KONA World Ironman Championship Finisher last year and Actress-Commercial model, runner and triathlete Ms. Isabelle Daza.
All eyes though were strained on Sandra as she pounded the Intenza Treadmill with 4-5 mins/kilometer pace as she made the competition her own. She was all sweat and intense on her run, concentrated on both form and the information generated on the treadmill dials and was constant on her pace all throughout.
And on the treadmill (Photo by Running Atom)
The bike transition was no less intense as she cascaded from a slow start to a fast moving cadence for the 20 km ride. Over-all she did an astonishing 1:12 for the 3k/20k/2k run-bike-run!
Isabelle on the Pro-Form Le Tour De France trainer
While Sandra was all aggressive and concentrated, Isabelle was more relaxed and steady, as if she were doing an easy to moderate LSD run on a Saturday evening at the UP grounds. She was nonetheless resolve in getting in those needed kms and she did push her effort at times, doing some fast sprints for variation.
Sandra after her finish
With my new idol! š
It was a bit arduous watching the two pounding the mileage away but not really going anywhere and the waiting, while you were there standing up all along and observing was a bit tiresome. How i wished i was doing the activity myself.
But when Sandra shouted out that she had only 1 kilometer to go for the last run leg, everybody got so excited that they went near her and cheered until she finished the race!
It was a nice experience watching the two do their thing, both being triathletes and the results of using state-of-the-art exercise machines was incredible as they turned out to be very good and accurate–just like doing the real thing outdoors! Congratulations to both Sandra and Isabelle!
If anyone of you here would want to join this indoor duathlon, you can still register as the event will run until August 31, 2013. You can register via their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/fitnessandathletics. Thanks to Jeffrey and Running Atom for the photos!
Here are some details:
Some pictures during the event:
With CJ, Cheryl and Mars
With co-bloggers and Ms. Mascy Pineda of Suunto, next on my right
With blogger Franc Ramon and Mascy Pineda of Suunto
JAZZRUNNER 