Skip to Content

THE WEEKLY #122: CEBU TRAINING CAMP

THE WEEKLY #122: CEBU TRAINING CAMP

After settling into the home base apartment in Moalboal, Cebu it was time to welcome a visitor. Josh Lynott had flown in a monstrous trip from Rio de Janiero, clocking up 43 hours of travel. The mission over the next 3 weeks is to basically become Rich Roll and/or learn how to swim. This is all of course, in preparation for the Bali Hope swim-run event that you all helped me fundraise for last week. You and I donated $3000 AUD to go towards the upgrade of the Nusa Lembongan Recycling Facility.

The program is intense. The typical day has three sessions. We wake up at 5 am and hit the road running by 5:40 am in order to beat the harsh Philippines sun. Some days we run 15km others we do a time trial or interval training. The final run of each week is a long run between 25-30 kilometers. Each week we are racking up 85-90 kilometers on the roads of Moalboal, much to the confusion of the locals who enjoy wishing us good morning as we cruise by. The running is probably my favorite part, which is mostly because I dread the swim.

The swim comes straight after the run and we generally drop in for a 2-kilometer swim. It takes me just under 40 minutes on a good day and Josh cruises in under 35. The lats are growing and the swim cap has become my least favorite item of clothing. The silver lining is that we are swimming in 28-degree water.. above world class coral… amongst turtles. It could be worse.

The final element to our program is the gym sessions. There is only one gym in Moalboal. It’s a little shed wedged next to a house in the neighborhood. It has a lot of old free weights and machines, which is perfect for us. Working out in flip-flops in extreme heat and humidity is insane. I actually drip pools of water throughout the gym and leave wetter than I am on the swim! The old lady who owns the gym is a legend and always has a good chat before the session. When I first came she told me, ‘It’s 20 pesos whether you have a long nose or a short nose.’ I respect that and it’s awesome to feel welcomed as a foreigner even with a small gesture like that. She has 13 dogs and jokingly told me, ‘Try and hop the fence if you want to die.’ I think she was half joking.

Aside from this intense schedule, we have made it out to a couple of waterfalls and adventures midweek and on the weekend. The limestone that covers Cebu makes the water a creamy blue. I guess Cebu is famous for this blue water. It makes every waterfall magical and you really can’t go wrong. With over 200 waterfalls on the island and beautiful snorkeling everywhere you really can’t go wrong on Cebu. Here are a few snaps from the week.

Click here to cancel reply.

megan

Sunday 18th of November 2018

I absolutely love the idea of your adventure bags! My boyfriend and I are currently in Australia and have been on the road for almost two years now as well. Philippines has been our favorite place so far. Did you have time to do canyoneering in Cebu?