Long Run @ UP w/ the Nike Clinic this Sunday

 

Run along with us.  It doesn’t matter if you’re not part of the Nike running clinic, or you still want to enroll (hurray!, you still may), or you’re one of those trainees who already had come face-to-face with the love/hate tug of running with the interval sessions at ULTRA (!), or you never plan to be part of it -   All the same, you’re most invited to join this long run.

Assembly time:    5:30 AM, infront of UP Theater

Start of run:           6:00 AM

See you there folks!

[My] 3rd run session at the Nike clinic

 

I showed up at ULTRA for the training a bit earlier than usual last night.  So it was expected that the person who’d often greet me for being a notorious latecomer would notice.  So this time I got a nicer shout-out comment from Ronald, “Uy, maaga ka ngayon!”  (Hey, you’re early today!)  I just waved my hand and said ‘Hi!’ as I went on doing my warmup run.

Last night’s session was exactly similar to the past Tuesday’s.  Some warmup runs, 3 sets of 3×200m speed intervals, and stretches and running drills.  I went home wasted, my calves a bit hurting but tolerable.

I was with a group of faster lady runners last night.  They were way more competitive than the group I paced with last week.  I realized that those women in my group last night were already road racers;  last week’s were really oh-so-fresh newbies who have no experience yet in joining local races, that’s why for them I was ‘fast’.

So I ended up finishing the sets as just the second or third runner.  I realized I wasn’t really in the racing mood last night compared to last week.  Hence, when we were starting our third set of the speed intervals, Coach Rio pointed to me and said, “O, di ba last week eto yung pinakamalakas?…”  (Isn’t she the strongest last week?)

That was the cue for me.  I needed to cut the dreamy mode of my lazy leg that evening.  I needed to get going.  In the last 200m of the third set, I ran full speed and finished first in my group. 

To set our perspectives straight, of course, the purpose of the speed training isn’t really on landing first in the ranking, not even just racing with your groupmates!, but just running your fastest pace everytime (actually, in between recovery periods) with the goal of increasing your anaerobic threshold.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is about mixing high intensity bursts of exercise with moderate intensity recovery periods. It’s brutal but has incredible advantages.  It is all about increasing your anaerobic threshold and this may be more important than your VO2max.   (Source: http://www.intervaltraining.net/)

I found last night’s interval training more deadly than last week’s.  While the coaches were happy that we finished our run session noticeably earlier last night – oh!, by the way they were thinking it’s because we were getting faster!  -   I found it more brutal on my legs that we were given shorter recovery periods in between, which I think cut the run session time.

I would have not entirely recovered yet from the previous 200m speed run but then we would be called up already by the coaches for the next.  I think they’d cut our recovery periods by half.  Then again, why do I expect things to grow more gentle in this running clinic when it’s all obvious the coaches are going to push us even harder after each session.  Oh, I Love/Hate running…  You got it so right, New Balance.

I got to chat more with Jay this time and was also able to meet Wilbert.  Jay sounds like a pro (I seriously think he is) especially when he talked about his personal training program of 5 runs every week and how he seriously plots his getting a nice full marathon finish next year.  Inspiring… but that’s soo 3-5 years a goal for me.  OR MORE.  Probably more.

By the way, this time our coach-pacer commented on my breathing, that was more ‘hingal-aso’  (breathe like a dog).  He said I needed to practice deep breathing everytime.  Oh I know, but I don’t know how to exactly do that, especially while running.

First session of Nike Running Clinic

 

I may really just get a brighter future in sprinting, than in distance running. 

That’s what I realized from last night’s Nike running clinic where we, the Tuesdays group of trainees, had our first session.

The running clinic last night was impressive.  The program, I just realized then, is more serious than I thought.   The coaches made us run, run and run!  Well, what do you expect to get from a running clinic anyway. 

I went to ULTRA last night with Brian who’s also a newbie in running.  Side by side him, I could be considered a semi-veteran in races as this guy hasn’t tried road racing yet.  I am pretty sure though, from last night’s scenarios, that 5K is chickenfeed to him and he will run past me in 10K. 

Being a telco person, I work more than eight hours a day and I usually depart from my office desk at 7PM the earliest.  So I had hoped for the running clinic to take some delays in starting so that I could catch up right in time for the sessions. 

But NO!  The people manning the clinic are runners too (running coaches even!) and these guys know what minutes or seconds delay in time is worth.  Things went the other way around.  I learned that as early as quarter to 7PM, a batch of trainees were already doing their warm-up runs.  To cut things short, I was a latecomer – a very latecomer! -  and I ended up being the lone female among three guys.  We were the last batch handled for the night.  FYI:  They have separate sessions for males and females.

Call time for the Nike clinic is at 7PM.  Brian and I arrived to the venue 40 minutes late.   Walking towards the track, I was surprised to see several packs of runners donning in race bibs on top of their shirt.  And I suddenly thought we were lost.  After inquiring though, I learned that that race bib contains your trainee number and you’re supposed to wear it everytime you attend the sessions.  

Last night’s training consisted of time trial runs of two sets of 4 laps with 10-minute break in between, one set of 2 laps, and then a finale of just 1 lap.  They get your time from the runs and record it.  I think those times of finish recorded are supposed to help them assess whether a trainee shall have to be assigned to the beginners group, middle, or advanced. 

And since I missed the chance to be with the other lady trainees, I had to be running side by side three guys in finishing all the sets.  As expected, I lagged behind them and Brian was consistently the fastest.  I didn’t mind it though as I saw one of the guys do walks in between while I did continuous running.  Joining road races made me realize that long distance running is, in the end, really a game of endurance.  And that’s an area I’ve been working on really hard for sometime now.

But there’s a highlight for me in that session.  Without intending to, I took the limelight in the finale run of just one lap.  The assistant coach told me I can run my fastest pace this time as this is only 1 lap and then I immediately asked if I could sprint it.  He said, “kung anong kaya mo ma’am” and so I did what I could.  In my last set, I ran full speed with my longest stride and before I knew it the coaches started shouting cheering me on because I left two of the guys far behind me while Brian was trying to catch up but wasn’t able to until after the 300th meter.  I think I caught them surprised, haha.  I had been running snail pace in all the other sets -  or at least, side by side my batch of all-male I was ’snail pace’.   In the last set, I finished close second to Brian.

The clinic was fun, well, serious too.  I wonder what they’d let us do next Tuesday…