MultiSport Magazine: The Body Issue

Thanks to MultiSport Magazine for immortalizing how I looked for a two-week period following some major racing and training. I was fit as a fiddle, and looked the part! This is their first-ever Body Issue, and I’m honored to have been asked to be a part of it. Read the accompanying article here.

MultiSport Magazine: The Body Issue

While full-time fitness models maintain a ripped physique all year round by adhering to strict diet and exercise regimens, endurance athletes like myself need to come down off that peak, recover, and build back up again. Some years ago, before I started running, I was fixated on trying to look a certain way: small waistline, slim thighs, and for the most part I got what I wanted through funky diets and regular exercise. But I could never have run 10 kilometers back then, much less a marathon, or compete in triathlons.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

…I got into running because I wanted to lose weight. I wanted toned legs, I wanted a nice butt. Thats how some people start, its not necessarily how they will stay in it. In my former life as a group exercise instructor, we were told that some people will get into things just because of how it will make them look. But then it takes a long time to look a certain way from exercise; it will take a shorter time for you to feel the benefits. So if their focus is external, then theyre more likely to quit. So the focus must be internal: how it makes them feel, what kind of achievements they feel theyve accomplished.

…Whether its about performance, whether its about finishing and feeling good about oneself, I certainly think that staying long in triathlon, in the sport, is about how it makes you feel than how it makes you look.

It’s still a learning process as I negotiate the tricky path of eating, training, racing, and recovering, but I am proud of what my body can do now when I take care of it properly. And I think that the same goes for everyone who was featured in this issue — they all look amazing but what’s more important to us is how we perform as athletes.

If you’re curious, here’s how Inside Triathlon’s Body Issue looked two years ago… I love how MultiSport’s Body Issue was tastefully done, keeping in mind our cultural sensitivities. Here are a few outtakes:

photo from Patrick Joson

That’s Adrien Semblat and Ian Banzon in the background.

Thanks to Romeo Moran (interview), Johann Bona of At East Jed Root (photos), Carmel Villongco, Joven Labindao, and Rhon Tecson of Shiseido (makeup), Ian Lipa and Marky Custodio of Creations by Lourd Ramos (hair). My bikini is from Oohlalaph – Mix & Match Swimwear, and thanks to Ceepo for my lovely Katana.

Grab a FREE copy of MultiSport Philippines at any sports shop, or in gym chains. (I usually get mine at Fitness First branches.)