7 Years After

Its a new year and as always, overthinking again. I wanted to write my entry to this season's essay writing contest but ended up not writing until now. The long break made me think how I've been getting along with improving my fitness. I had a wake up call around September last year when I was having terrible headaches that paracetamol can't fix. Then remembered I had been a terrible patient of hypertension. Took my wrist BP monitor and got a 160/100. I may have been missing drinking my meds. >.<

Anyway, while this is a horrible case of bad patient not drinking meds - I wanted to make it better with sleep, diet and exercise. Set my alarm to sleep and wake up. Ordered monthly subscription from Diet-in-a-Box (which by the way tastes like resto food, so you will not feel you are in a diet at all). Now playing badminton every Sunday too for at least 4 hours, then 3x in the gym every week. To no surprise, holidays is to pig out and so I did! Before all the gluttony I was already 160 lbs, but when I weighed myself today, I gained 10 lbs that fast in 2 weeks. 

And so all the guilt sank in and this picture at the bottom is me after 1 hour running on the threadmill and doing all the machines in the gym aimlessly in light weight compared to what I can now lift. I just wanted to burn a lot. When I got home, I weight myself and lost 2 lbs. But I guess it was because I was starving myself the whole day - which is a very bad idea.

Can't explain my hunger then. Next thing I know, I finished a tub of spaghetti from a workmate. Even if I sleep better, eat healthier and exercise more - I really need to work on my self-control. Whenever I see food on the table and it's just me, everything is going down.

Week 5 - Learning Run-Walk

I never took training that seriously until now. There's just no way I'll DNF my first full marathon. I told myself, I have to do something that will count me as a serious runner, and not just some person who wants to run just for the heck of it. Hmmm, but still just a recreational runner, haha!

TBR is just so cool, in the sense that they would really prepare you for your big day. They make no assumptions, just a training plan that is tried and tested. Slots would not have been filled up right away if the brand is not reputable, it simply is.

As a stubborn runner, it has been very hard for me to keep up with a training plan but so far, on the training plan they gave out at TBR, I'm still good at week 5. That's two maintenance runs and a long run each week. Good thing there's free use of gym at work, I can do maintenance runs indoors. Then one in a while there are bull sessions where we participants run together, like this photo here. It's free for all, you can join even if your not in TBRDM 2013.

Slowly, but surely, I'll build my weekly mileage.

Week 4 - Back In The Game

This post has been long overdue. I'm just going to pretend that I was sucked in a time space warp. This week is week 4 of my road to a marathon, simple because I say so, haha!

Even though I’m not writing, I didn’t quit running a decent training plan. I had completed a couple of runs. All were disappointments. I never reached my target times. I simply lack training. Signing up for a full marathon is my first step in getting away with the regrets. This time, failure is not an option. DNF will not happen.

In a few hours, I’ll be on my first Bull Session for the The Bull Runner Dream Marathon 2013. I’ve been becoming slower lately, but I don’t intend to keep it that way. Back in the game!

Week 3: Back to Badminton

Before I started running, I was playing badminton regularly. Twice a week the very least that is. Us workmates from my previous company have the badminton court in our boss’ place reserved those two slots every single week. Rain or shine, we put up a fight. It was simply a routine. 

badminton tourney
at my previous company a year ago

When I moved to my new company, everything just wouldn’t let me get back in that addiction. There was no court nearby, schedules get messed up and most of all, it’s hard to find playmates! When I started being at home in my new workplace, a couple of months ago, conversations about badminton just sprung out. I knew it, badminton is one of the most common sports around, it would be impossible not to find people who play. The rest was history.

This Saturday is the second day of a four-day tournament at work. And yes, I registered right after I read the publicity on my mail weeks back. I’m always going to be competitive at what I do, when I know I can be good at it. Stan, my partner last week, and I won our first match. I can just remember how my lungs felt struggling for air then. We were on the same page when we said we should finish the game in two sets, or else, it’s a loss. But hell did we put up a fight. Each point in the third set was literally breathe taking. We’ve been playing before, but we both lost our shape. I’ve been running for a while now, but I must admit, sprinting to every corner of the court is a different story. While I was recovering from a smash, I would need to run to the other side of the court. Everything is unpredictable, you cannot maintain a pace. You have to get to that point before the shuttle lands on the ground. I was totally unprepared. I was out of my game, but I will come back. Fwahahahah!

I’m writing this here because training to be good at badminton feels like upping my game in running too. A couple of days after last Saturday, I can really feel that my legs got stronger, specially my upper leg. Most of the time, when you play, you have to squat a bit to get your body closer to ground. It helps to have longer strides and I just realized it has a certain principle same as in running. By keeping your body closer to the ground, you have more control over your center of gravity. It will help you save your energy, when you can use that control to your advantage. If you keep your center near the ground, it will conserve you energy. Lean forward, and you get more potential to sprint to your shuttle.

I call my badminton my cross training!

Week 2: Strangled at RU2 2012 21k

I was a hopeful pagong last Sunday at 2012 Run United Leg 2. I didn’t have much sleep the night before, but upon seeing other sleepy heads under the pouring rain, I recalled how much this particular road race means to me. The route from BGC to Mall of Asia is fun too. I promised myself that I’ll put every effort to get a sub-2:30. But, I didn’t.

Look a lot bloodier than this, my phone cam
didn't capture the bloodiness.

It was supposed to be a favourable day for me. There was a sprinkle of rain at the start and cool, windy weather as the race went on. My legs had enough rest, and maybe a bit too much. I knew I brought enough fuel and I knew when to take them – 3 energy gels and my favourite cereal bar. There was enough hydration, good handling of traffic and all of the nice things that you can expect from a Runrio race. The whole race felt good, but short at my objective. I crossed the finish line 28 seconds after my target. But wait, the timer was late by around 10 minutes from gun start, meaning I was around a 2:40.

I spent some time thinking what I did wrong, and there were a couple of things that came to mind. First, I took a pee in a gasoline station near the 5K mark at Buendia. Hmm, took the second floor bathroom, didn’t know there was one downstairs. Maybe took 3-5 minutes for that. Then I enjoyed my walk breaks too much. I set that every 5k mark, I’ll walk a bit to let my legs recover a bit, but I think I lost track of time those moments. >.< Last and obviously not the least, I TIED MY SHOES TOO TIGHT!! Arg! I didn’t realize that that was what they meant by your feet expanding when you run. I always felt awkward when my feet don’t stay in one spot in my shoes, that’s why I tie it a bit tight. Been doing it ever since, and I just learned how to give my feet some breathing space. In the end, my feet were just crying out loud. It made me walk for a while even though I can still run non-stop. Thinking of loosening it a bit, but I felt like that would take more time. After I took off my shoes and socks, just found blood in my blisters on my pinky toes.

Better photo here.

But still, this is not one of my worst races, still a good one, considering that I spent 3 hours in this same route during RU1 earlier this year. I was able to sustain my energy and will to run till the end. Pero marami pa kong bigas na kailangan kainin!

Week 1: Jumpstart with a Half Marry

Different trainers say different stuff, but at the end of the day, they want you to get enough mileage. Not speed – Mileage. You have to be running a substantial length of the distance you are aspiring for. Part of my plan right now is run a 21k once a month. I believe that is something that my body could handle. In between those, I plan to strive for PR’s in shorter distances for speed training. Summing that all up, I will be getting more mileage than I used to. Before, I don’t train for my runs, but I guess that is pretty much lame. Or pretty much, suicide for my leg muscles.

Last May 27, I ran the Greenfield City Run 2012. It was so much fun running in an unfamiliar place. Greenfield City, Santa Rosa, Laguna is a place you’d consider in settling down. It’s a quick drive to and from Manila – well, if there’s no obnoxious traffic. It’s my first half marathon after I proclaimed I was going to do a full marry by early next year. This time, I was conscious about the time.

What I did was segment the run into four 5K’s and an anything-goes last kilometre. That way, I would say like, “One last kilometre for this quarter of the road!” Psychologically, it works. Not only that, it gives me an excuse to do walk breaks. When I get to a quarter-mark earlier that I planned to, I walk for a while, until a couple few minutes before the next quarter of my race. It actually works.

But something happened on my last quarter. I became ambitious, I felt that I can run faster than I intended to. It took a toll on me on the last few kilometres. The muscle above my knee just hurt a lot, making me walk for a longer while. Also, the water that I pour on top of my head dripped to my socks. It was creating some sort of friction that hurt and made me walk some more. It was almost a sub 2:30 for me. All that, plus the heat of the sun, was all to blame (hope races start a bit earlier, like 3:30am in Condura this year). It’s just frustrating that these small things hurt my goal big time. But I guess, 2:37 is not that bad at all, especially for a turtle like me, hahaha!

21k for June, Run United 2012 Leg 2! See you there! To a full marathon, yay!

Week 0: Road to a Full Marathon

I started running on September 18 last year. A couple of HS friends invited me to my first 10k. I had mixed feelings about it. Back in UP Diliman, I would run around Acad Oval. The thing is, I can’t even keep up for five minutes back then. Eventually, I gave in, and it’s just a different kind of high when you see a lot of people running, all shapes and sizes.

Guess what, my next run after that was a 21k, hahaha! But mind you, that first 21k is still my PR right now for that distance. It took me 2:35 gun time to finish Adidas King of the Road 2011. I don’t know what got into me that time, I just kept running, I wasn’t thinking about the time, no watch, no gadget, no anything to track my time. I was just so excited. And here I am, I’m not improving much on my running. I’ve ran four 5K’s, 7 10K’s, three 16K’s and five 21K’s. Thought about it for a time now and realized that there is no stopping me from becoming a decent runner. I just need the right game plan, and I’ve found it. I’m going to put it out there – I will run a full marathon in the first quarter of next year! I’m planning to run “The Bull Runner Dream Marathon”. Hope I get a slot.

I searched for training plans and I think I found what I need – some stuff from Jeff Galloway’s site and my favorite running blog, Old Man Running (wrote about it on a previous post). These are just templates, but as how I’ve done things in the past, I still listen to my body well. If I feel like I’m doing too much, I try to slow it down and when things get a bit too easy, I step it up a little. Just eye on the target – FULL MARATHON NEXT YEAR!!

I’ll take it one step at a time. First thing that I think I need to accomplish is get a good PR at a half marathon. I’ll train for that first, then I’ll just think about what I’m going to target next when I get that goal. I believe that the best piece of advice that I got from reading is that to know where you’re at first. And by saying that, I don’t plan on jumping to a completely new training plan. I’ll just tweak what I have right now. Good luck to me on my road!

Old Man Running

I’ve been reading a lot of blogs, topics range from photography, gadgets, Salesforce.com to running. It became a headache going to each website one by one so I started using Google Reader. It makes it more time efficient to be kept posted about everything.

Allen - Old Man Running

As of lately, I’ve started reading more stuff about running. I loved this one blog in particular – http://www.oldmanrunning.org. Was really, really helpful to me. It speaks a language that I can understand, no highfaluting words, just plain English. One topic that he’s been telling about recently is that of his high wakeup heart rate. I’ve been experiencing the same thing lately. He mentioned that it is caused by lack of sleep. That made sense of what I’m going through. I trained myself to wake up at around 6:00am in the morning every day – the first nights were hard, had to use Benadryl to get me to sleep. However, lately, my bed time is irregular – blame playing DotA again. >.< His blog just enlightened me.

The rest of his blog posts tell a story of how a 76-year-old man is going back to running. I'm now inspired to make my blog a diary of my running career! Follow his blog! Better yet, subscribe to his feeds through Google Reader.

Funny stuff from his feed -

1. If walking/cycling is good for health, postmen would be immortal. 
2. A whale swims all day, only eats fish, drinks water and is fat. 
3. A rabbit runs and hops and only lives 15 years. 
4. A tortoise doesn't run, barely walks and does nothing ..yet lives for 450 years. 


And you want me to Exercise!! 


(We all need a laugh once in a while)

Now, that's hilarious. >.<

Tae Runner No More!

I ran my 5th 21k yesterday, and it actually is my slowest time. >.< I guess I really lack the training and the attitude for it, but I'm not yet giving up. I'll make sure I strike a PR on 2012 Run United Leg 2!!

I still can't find a reason why, but my best time for 21k was my first, on Adidas King of the Road 2011. That was a 2:35, from around BGC then a u-turn at Buendia cor. dela Rosa and back. The closest I got to this PR was this year's Condura Skyway Marathon at 2:42. The other three 21k's are between 2:50 and 3:00 Haha! But my last should have been the least dragging one out of all five except for one reason. After my long races, I usually pulling my right leg to just walk. It's the first thing that dies on me when I do my longer runs. However, yesterday, it didn't act out, something else did. Hahah! My stomache went bad, not once, not twice, but thrice! Good thing there were gas stations and portalets all over the place, hahaha! I better cut down from the details to save myself some dignity. Haha!

The day before, I had the mistake of drinking a lot carbonated drinks after eating a lot. I forgot that instead of pushing it all out, I was keeping everything in my gut for a longer time, and it did take it's toll on me on race day. Absolutely stupid. Hahah! So right now, my mission is to fix my body clock as well as my stomach, I think it needs as much training as my legs do. I just hate it that I trained so much to run more efficiently through forefoot, and then everything went to waste because of one stupid day.

I will beat that 2:35 on RU2, so my friends will quit calling me freaking "Tae Runner"! Just read this article after the run -- http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7120,s6-241-624--413-0,00.html. I was just pretty desperate how to fix myself. The race route yesterday was actually fun, from BGC to Mall of Asia via Buendia Ave. I know I could do better than 2:59:01! (courtesy of race results thru SMS by Runrio - http://runrio.com/2012/03/run-united-1-race-results-via-sms-available-now/). Just find it cool how results were sent through SMS. Hahaha!

Renewed

Just got my domain renewed. Paid Hostingphil earlier this week, and now, my blog will be as it is now for another year. I just can't believe that I've had this blog for six years now. I've not yet matured as a blogger, still posting random stuff that comes to mind (though I keep some thoughts to myself now on my Multiply diary). Even though I don't make something out of my blog right now, it still is a testament of how I came by those six years. I've changed. A lot.

I'd say, I'm a much stronger person now. As I would always say, I'm more comfortable on my own skin. I know what I can do and what I can't do, at least for now. I may be born short of somethings, but I can always venture into things that I can be good at and things that I love doing. And now it starting to sound like a new year's post, but I just got myself a breather at things now. I've been caught up with tasks at work - assignments that I loved doing. Been focused on my road to a full marathon end of year - which by the way, I'm thinking of postponing for another year. Just realized that it would take more training to come out alive after getting to the last mile.

Good news of my sister passing her Medical Board exam yesterday is blast to our home, it is something that we've been all waiting for and my sister did clear it. She's a doctor now. It just fuels my motivation that everything can be achieved out of hard work. I guess it just really takes time, as how I described it on a post on my Multiply last week --

I guess I was born for running. Initially, it was all fighting hypertension. Eventually, it became an addiction. It's the cheapest sport out there, just need a pair of shoes and off you go. This morning, I joined Pinoy Fitness for an LSD Run - went for 16k with pace 8min/km. It just is so much more fun if you go in groups, and even communities.

Half way, my right leg acted out again. It's been my problem ever since, but this time, I told myself, I just get used to the pain, I'll stand till the last kilometer. And I did! Also, the pain actually went away. It's actually true, the pain does go away, you'll just have to withstand it for a time, and eventually things will get better. It really does. It's pretty much how life goes on, someday, everything will be brighter.


I guess running is the best metaphor of life, and I am embracing that. I see it as how it feels like it never ends, but you will actually get by each second if you keep your eyes to a target. It's not something that everyone share, it's something that you have to find out for yourself. You are who you want to be, where you want to be and when you want to get there.

Personal Record

Been lazy writing. Been seriously running. Now, I list my PR's, as they call it --

5.2k - K! Run - 00:37:10
10k - Run Rizal - 01:12:28
21k - Adidas King of the Road - 02:35:00

This Saturday, I hope to beat my best time for 10k in Energizer Night Run 2011. Excited to see friends too. :) After that, I have Run United Leg 3 to punish my legs again for another 21k run. Wish me luck!!