Getting there…

I’m really happy that I’ve got people encouraging me to get back to training… and their prodding has been working! Well, aside from the fact that I also feel I need it considering that I’ve gained some weight back, lost muscle, and suffer from muscle memory loss (if there is such a term).

Slowly but surely…

Slowly, but surely… I’ll get there AGAIN and hopefully, go beyond what I’ve already accomplished. I slumped back to over an hr for my 10k… I’m giving myself several weeks to get back into shape. Slowly but surely will be my goal… also, I’m waiting for my shoes to arrive.

Bringing back good habits…

I used to have good habits… until I stopped running. Ironic thing was the fact that I’d eat anything I wanted and console myself with the idea, “Ok lang yan, I’ll burn it anyway…” but this was the time I stopped running. So much for sabotaging myself. It was also around this time that I got back to drinking… more of binge drinking. Not just my usual “Jack Coke” but beer also.

So I’m also brining back my good habits of eating carbs in the morning, protein for lunch and greens or light foods in the evening. I should AGAIN stay away from fatty foods, and limit my servings, if not take out, pork and beef. I should focus more on chicken and fish, more helpings of fruits and veggies. No more chocolates, sugar-rich foods, Krispy Kreme dougnuts, hi-calorie junk food as McDonalds, KFC, Yellow Cab Pizza or coffee from Starbucks. I’m also sticking to grilled and steamed foods, and lessening fried foods (argh!).

The hardest thing to do is to stay away from alcohol… I enjoy drinking, and I do a whole lot of it. But I guess I’ll have to settle for red wine, the healthier alternative.

Back on track, almost…

Well, I’ve been running for the past two weeks already, almost every day if possible. However, I still feel I’m unworthy of going back to ULTRA to train. I mean, I know no one really cares, but I’ve told myself that I only deserve to go back after I get back to the conditioning I was in when I was peaking. So until that time comes, I veering away from ULTRA. I’ll concentrate first on building up my endurance.

I’ve found alternative venues where I can train. I’ve been doing 800s, 400s and 200s in an improvised “track oval” and I’ve also managed to log in some decent recovery runs. In fact, I’ve been doing some hill training. Hopefully all of these pay off.

Keeping my eyes on my goals…

I’ve lost sight of my initial goals but this time around, I think I will be able to see them through.

Goal# 1 – do a sub-50 for 10k
Goal #2 – finish my first 21k
Goal # 3 – reach my ideal running weight of 150lbs

With all that in mind… the Passion Runner plans to make a comeback!

I’m a running newbie…AGAIN

Last Monday, the first day of December, was my first day in ULTRA in almost a month. I had been out of the running scene since the Men’s Health Urbanatholon (Nov. 16) and out of training for close to 3 weeks. A friend of mine from the College of Human Kinetics says that inactivity for over 2 weeks makes our muscles forget our training regimen and “goes back to square one.”

As I step foot into ULTRA, I found the track oval deserted. It was declared a non-working holiday and I guess everyone was either at home or out of town for the long weekend. I on the other hand decided to get back on track, pun intended.

NEED TO GET BACK

The week prior, I received a text from Coach Rio saying, “Magtraining ka na tom ah!” He was aware that I haven’t been running at all and so I told him give me till the end of the week and definitely, I’ll start training on Monday. I kept to my word and showed up at ULTRA at 3pm, with no one there so that I could concentrate on what I set out to do… TO RUN, not to socialize, meet friends, or do small talk…. but RUN as I had always done since I started training last April.

I had been sidetracked by a lot of things that I had lost my focus, my discipline and worse, my motivation. Running was supposed to be my outlet from stress and to lose that, it really made me a not-so-likable-always-irritable-agitated-easily-annoyed-grumpy-person. I NEEDED TO GET IT BACK and so I ran.

THE STRUGGLE

I started with 5 laps around the track as warm up. What was usually a breeze for me became a struggle. Had my body forgotten how to run?! My knees were wobbly, I was out of breath and my stride seemed so short. The last time I felt like this was when I started out sometime in January. All the people I had started out with have already left me behind, doing 15ks, 21ks, 25ks and even full marathons while here I am struggling with 5 laps.

STARTING WITH THE BASICS

Prior to heading to ULTRA, I gave Coach Rio a call. “Coach, papunta akong ULTRA ngayon. Ano gagawin ko?”

“Time trial ka ng 1mi, 800m at 400m.”

“May drills?“

“Wala. Time trial ka lang. Rest 15mins in between para may recovery ka”

“Ha? Talaga? Walang drills? Yun lang talaga gagawin ko?”

“Oo, yun lang. Babalik ka pa lang eh.”

And that was our conversation that stuck to my head. It was almost the same conversation we had when I had started, when I was raring to do more and exert myself, and Coach was always cautioning me not to go too fast. I remember him telling me to keep mind the saying, “Too fast, too soon”

I’m raring to get back to where I left off but I think this time around, I’ll take it easy and it do it right

It’s 10:57pm… And what am I up to?

It’s 10:57pm… And what am I up to? Anyone care to guess?

Rain or shine

Interesting that two runners told me the same thing today. Can you guess who said who?

FIRST RUNNERS: I texted, “Malakas din ba ulan diyan? Til what time kayo ULTRA xxxxx? Or mag-afternoon session  na lang ako?”

and the response was, “Rain or shine andito kami.”

2ND RUNNERS: The other one runner was, “Good morning xxxx. Were you able to train at ULTRA today? It was raining real hard this morning. Are we still pushing thru with our meeting at 9am?”

Their response was, “We are still soldiers.. rain or shine, we fight.. we are waiting for you”

Can anyone guess who these people I was texting with?

Taking it slowly

Today was my first training day in ULTRA after being gone for two weeks. I sure miss the place, and of course the usual people I get to see. Instead of the usual morning training session at ULTRA, I had no choice but to go in the afternoon, because as expected… I DID NOT WAKE UP.

Taking it slow

I left the house around 3pm and headed straight to ULTRA. I tried calling up Coach Rio for my workout, but as usual… forever busy and preoccupied. So instead, I gave Coach John a call. He told me to take it easy since I was starting from scratch and since I was recovering. He said he’d meet up with me there at around 4pm. Since I was sure to get there earlier, I did the usual 2km warmup, stretching and a complete set of drills. Before I started with my drills, Coach John had showed up (thanks Coach, I appreciate you coming earlier than usual).

I was telling Coach John that I had been out for the past two weeks, and that I had alternately been doing weight training, with focus on doing squats to strengthen my quads and hamstrings and of course, did core exercises. I was telling him also that I had done 5k the night before at 26:32, describing how I was out of breath when it would normally be an easy run. He then told me to take it easy and not to push myself too much and that today, I’ll be doing fartlek… 10 laps or 4km… where I’d jog on the curves and run on the straight portions of the oval.

The Coaches Run Too

Coach was also telling me that his legs hurt and buttocks were sore, having run in Alabang last Saturday and doing a long run in Antipolo yesterday with Coach Rio and other runners. Well I told him, “nanalo ka naman ng first place sa Alabang eh” Yup, Coach John is a fast runner and as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, holds the Philippine Record for 800m.

Funny thing that the other Coaches at ULTRA were asking where I was and that they’ve been doing runs the past weekends. Coach Jo-Ar also mentioned that they did a long run in Antipolo. Too bad I would have joined, if not for my not feeling all that well yet and having an exam.

My Workout

Anyway, I did my 4.0km Fatlet with a total time of 26:32.59… Average lap (400m) was at 2:36 where I’d be jogging (recovering) in the turns and runnings/sprinting on the straight portions. I felt that I was really going at such a slow speed. Again, I had to remind myself that I was starting from scratch.

Hopefully, I’ll be back to “normal” again. And everyone is right… just enjoy running.

Great to be back!

After a grueling exam on income taxation, I decided to break my 2 week running hiatus. As soon as I got home, I put on my running gear and off I went. I started out with a slow 2km warmup jog. I was supposed to do it in 15 minutes but I guess my legs wanted to go a little bit faster and did it in 13. Normally, I’d already be dripping with sweat but not this time. I then proceeded with the normal stretches. I could feel a tingling in my left knee, I wonder what I was… but I was determined to do a 5k.

I started off fast, which I think wasn’t a bright idea so I eventually slowed down. I didn’t want to make this an easy run so I tried to push myself. I was trying to keep my shoulders down since Coach Rio always tells me that my shoulders are always tensed up. So I’d look at my shadow and tried to keep my form in check as much as possible. A lot of thoughts were running through my head. Law school, some people, some frustrations, some ideas…. all sorts. At the same time, I was trying to catch my breath the whole time. I felt my joints aching a bit, maybe due to inactivity for the past 2 weeks, but again, I was determined to push myself.

5k… I did it in 26:32.59. Not bad.

Coach Rio, I’ll be training tomorrow. Self-imposed penalty again of P500 if I don’t train. THE PASSION RUNNER IS BACK

Back to zero? Or just recovering from recovery?

Am I back to zero or am I just recovering from recovery? Last week, I was put on “forced” recovery and was told not to run but just rest. Then Sunday night, I got text from Coach Rio saying, “See you tom.” Followed by, “Get ready… Hahaha!” Coach really has a sense of humor since the last time I asked him what my workout was the next day, his reply was “SECRET! Hahaha!” or that other instance wherein he texted me that he really wanted me to do 4:30 +/- 15 secs and NOT 4:00 +/- per km for my 4×1000.

Anyway, after being semi inactive almost the entire week prior, I found myself extremely exhausted after Coach made me do 3×1200m last Monday. My usual time for one lap is around 1:35 +/-10secs, but for this instance, it was 1:45 +/- 10secs… real slow, or maybe because it’s the farthest I’ve done? The last endurance session I had was only 1000m, but I feel that it should differ that much. Well, regardless, I’ve decided not to be too caught up with the numbers. What I’m trying to build right now, and until now is endurance…

Tuesday and Wednesday were forced rest days for me since it was raining real hard Boo the rain! Haha!

Yesterday, I did 8.8km around the UP Acad Oval together with the UP Track and Field Team which transformed itself into UP Run For Change. We initially did 2 rounds of the oval bearing this 3.5×9 banner that says, “RUN WITH US…” and did some chants here and there. Then it started to pour. I was with Coach John Lozada and several others who decided to do 2 more laps. All in all, we did 4 laps for a total of 8.8km.

On our last two laps, it was really pouring and my clothes got real heavy. I wasn’t wearing my usual dri-fit running shorts… Haha, I only reserve that for the track oval. People might wonder whether running shorts are really that short. hehe!

While doing the first 2 laps, I didn’t get tired at all… but maybe because we were also going at such a slow pace. When the pace started to pick up, … errr… it was a different story. I found myself getting tired. Good thing my shoelaces kept on getting undone that I had a few seconds of rest. hehe I found myself out of breath. I really need to build up more endurance.

* * *

Lately, I haven’ t been waking up early. I feel I want to sleep forever, sleeping in for over 10 hours a day. Today, I missed the morning session AGAIN. The same thing happened last Wednesday, that’s why I wasn’t able to run. I do wake up at 4:30am or 5am but then I decide not to get out of bed, then I end up waking up at 6:30am and by that time I decide that it will be too hot already at ULTRA to run. Lazy lazy lazy me. I find myself back in lazy land.

Regardless also whether I have class or not, I end up waking up late. In fact, I was 45 mins late for my 8am class when I arrived 8:45… well, the prof came in at 8:15 so that makes me 30 mins late, but late nonetheless. Oh well. I hope I get out of this lazy-tired-lazy phase soon.