Triathlon is no walk in the park. Triathletes test their strength and endurance swimming, biking, and running for hours. It requires the right gear and strenuous training.
The multi-discipline sport, however, didn’t seem to faze Sheila Gagui, Louie Sangalang, Philip Le Roux, and Mervin Santiago, members of the Santé Barley Tri-Team who are conquering the grueling world of triathlon while juggling their respective responsibilities outside of the race track.
These four Filipino triathletes share how they got into the sport and how they train to be on top of their game.
The mommy triathlete
Mom of two, Sheila Gagui got into triathlon after giving birth to her second son. A friend who wanted to do it with someone invited her.
“She knew that I was a swimmer before, so she told me that there was a swimming event that I could join. After that I started doing short distance races like Super Sprint Triathlon. From there, I looked for a coach and started training,” related Gagui.
She enthused, “Triathlon gives me a sense of achievement. I am able to set goals, check my progress, and see how I grow in the sport.”
According to Gagui, to excel in a particular race, for instance Olympic distance, the length and quality of training is important. “You have to do a lot of sprints, you have to time yourself all the time.”
The missionary triathlete
Philip Le Roux was a runner before he became a full-fledged triathlete. “I first got into running because I was overweight. I was really fat—I used to weigh 250kg—so I decided to lose some,” he shared. “After a month, I realized it’s actually nice. You start losing weight quickly. I started joining races, increased my distances, and joined marathons.”
When he and his family moved to the Philippines from the UK 10 years ago, he started his Foreign Runner blog, through which he met fellow bloggers.
“One blogger, in particular, asked me if I wanted to join a triathlon, and the rest is history.”
“Since I live in Agutaya in Palawan, training is difficult since we don’t have a road to run and bike on, so I’m doing everything indoors. I have my own gym. I’ve got a bike trainer. I do everything indoors,” shared Le Roux.
“When it’s off-season,” he said, “I’ve got a maintenance program that my trainer [Don Velasco] gives me. Mondays are my off days. Tuesdays, I do short brick [training.] Wednesdays, I run. Thursdays and Fridays, I swim. Saturdays, I bike. Sundays, I brick. My shortest training is an hour and my longest is three hours a day.”
For Ironman, a long-distance triathlon event, Le Roux said he trains from 10-12 hours a week to 20-25 hours a week.
The cancer survivor triathlete
Louie Sangalang has conquered a lot of things. He won his battle with cancer, he became a URCC (Universal Reality Combat Championships) featherweight champion, and he recently finished a marathon in the North Pole.
He’s always looking for activities that will test his capacity. “I took a break from martial arts and decided to get myself into an activity that’s a bit intense. In my case, I get bored easily when I don’t feel tired,” shared Sangalang.
He continued, “So, I told myself that since I was already mountain-biking and running, ‘swimming na lang, then triathlon na.’ I was very intrigued with this sport since I saw how people trained for it. I noticed that there were a lot of executives and entrepreneurs. I realized there must be something that attracts that kind of profile to the sport.”
Sangalang takes his training seriously. “I usually do two disciplines a day. It’s either I run and bike, or run and swim. I also do weights once a week since I eat a lot when preparing for triathlons.”
The triathlon coach
Coach Mervin Santiago started in triathlon when he was in college. “I bike, and I also love running, but I didn’t know how to swim so I took a swimming lesson for my PE subject,” he shared.
When it comes to training, Santiago said it depends which race he’s joining.
“I spend three hours a day training for short distance triathlons, and five to six hours a day for longer ones. For Olympic, I usually prepare for two months; three months for 70.3; and six months for a full Ironman.”
He added, “Since I work as a coach, I try to follow my students’ program but mine is harder. I do this so I can train even when I’m busy. During off-seasons, I usually go to the gym for base training, and core exercise for building the muscles so when race season starts I’m not prone to injury.”
