Four

 

Sure sign of addiction:  

When the mere thought of being deprived of IT gives you premature withdrawal symptoms,

and when the actual experience of IT leaves you with some really bitter aftertaste worse than what you got from the blackest coffee you’ve had so far.

***

I’ve been run-less for four consecutive days.  Darn this back-t0-school mode.  (Don’t get me wrong though.  I can’t be happier to be renting a space again in the pa-geek universe, if not for the threats it puts on my running.)

Run-less for four days and it brings me to a thoughtful mood. 

I just requested to be transferred to a different class just so I don’t risk being a constant latecomer  (plus the prof there seems to have ‘a thing for a lot of things’, as my classmate put it).  

But now I think I face a bigger risk of being totally runless for FOUR consecutive days -  Every . Single . Week.

Somebody give me a paracetamol please.

Good run days come, and so do ‘Bad’ days

 

I finished 5K of run and walk today.  Good enough to get the feel that I’d reach the finish line alive for tomorrow’s race.  No PR for me tomorrow –  I so believe.

It must be my lack of enough sleep the past nights, zero follow-through runs since Tuesday’s speed training, yesterday’s my-otnot*-brain-brought-me-to-Bambang Manila misadventure, AND, my slightly-sick mode. 

I’ve been nursing a sore throat and minor cough for almost three days now.  Talk about timing.

So my self-enforced run this morning proved to be more difficult than I had imagined.  My throat felt dry the whole time and I would cough almost every 30 seconds to clear my throat.  Last night, I was caught by surprise several times as my voice would suddenly crack while talking to an important person. 

These things only serve  to compound my concerns on breathing economy while running.  Today was almost a bad run and to predict that tomorrow’s won’t be too different doesn’t need the powers of fortune tellers/ astrologers.

In any case, I wish the race day magic to pour down on me graciously tomorrow.  Afterall it’s my first road race for the year.

Oh!andbytheway, you have an idea how bad today’s run went for me?  For the first time, I had an achy head run.   The curious thing is, it was not there when I started the run.  That’s when I decided to take walking breaks as I thought pushing it further like crazy would just be another otnot* thing to do. 

Oh, Godblessme tomorrow.

 

*(Sorry for my using of the ’otnot’ word too often.  Yesterday’s ‘lost in Manila’ experience was just whackily stupid of me that I find no other word more apt to decribe it than that.  It’s just ‘tonto’, the Spanish word for stupid.)

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!

I shall run tonight.

 

I just have to.  No recovery run yet since Sunday, my legs are all itching to hit the road again.  So lantern parade spectators, stay away from my path and let me run in peace.   Ooops, that was a request, actually.

[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.

What’s on my plate tonight

Training with the track and field team for Singolympics at UST…

I don’t know what I’m getting myself into.  They just told me they need people to play/ race and a friend volunteered me into it as he knew I’ve been into distance running lately -  but distance here defined as 10K the farthest, haha!  And another team wants to get me play for them in badminton.

Do these people have an idea I used to be sickly and weakling as a child?

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…

Three days before NB race

Why do I like joining races?  One of the top reasons would be that it motivates me to train more often and more seriously.

What’s cooking for me now are three consecutive weekend races:  NB race in Clark this Sunday, Race for Life at The Fort on Saturday next week, and the DMPI Fun Run in UP on the last day of the month (What a month-ender is that!).  I have plenty on my plate, I know, but I hope this isn’t yet the case of one who’s “biting more than he can chew”. 

In any case, while I’m doing 10K in the first two and an 8.8K in the last (just because it’s the longest distance category offered- naks!), I am determined to attempt to set a new PR only in the NB race this Sunday.  The other two can be just like any relaxed long run for me.  Then again, because I know the crazy stuff I’m made of, my mindset can change one snap of a second during the actual race -  and Cathletic tries again to make it a chase run instead of a relaxed one!

This morning, I ran at ULTRA with Cla, who’s a dear friend of mine since college and who just decided to take up running as a hobby.  I did 10 laps of the track oval and was forced to quit after doing a timecheck on my watch.  Going on my eleventh round, it was sometime 7:20 AM already when I checked and I realized I still needed to take a shower after, change to office attire, and get an FX to bring me to Robinsons. 

This is what I don’t like much with my morning runs where I end up only half-satisfied (eeengk! bigtime “bitin”) with my practices.  The twin hassles of forcing oneself to get up so early in the morning and then ending up not being able to run as long as you want and can are surely big cons for me.  Nevertheless, it’s obvious that solving the first means solving the second problem too.  No difficult Algebra needed there. 

Ergo, slow runners like me aren’t born.  Rather, they are created when a person worships laziness beyond the tolerable level.

What, me? In track and field?

After taking a quick shower to flush out the sweat I got from my quick run last night (suddenly, everything needs to take up the adjective ”quick”, haha!),  I was all ready to hit the bed and call it a night.  

I totally had no idea I was still in for a surprise.

On my way to hit the bed, somebody texted me, about the Singolympics:

“XXXX handpicked you to train with the track and field team.  We have a training this Friday night…”

What?  Me?  In track and field?

You must be kidding man!

But I didn’t tell him that.  Instead I asked for the next training schedule as this Friday is supposed to be booked already for the Nike running clinic. 

Obviously, the picture is clear.  I want to check out what’s in there.  And what’s in there for me. 

To be honest, I like sprinting  -  but I have never ever been trained for it or officially joined any sprinting competition.  But as they say, there’s always a first time (wink).

Tough [training] times are here…

This morning, AGAIN!, I was not able to pull off a morning run I had planned to do.  Blame that morning chilly breeze as December approaches.  The toughest combats in life are fought early in the morning.  This reality is twice true when you’re a runner. 

Somebody in my previous blog comments that someone should shoot me in the foot for tolerating seven run-less days.  That was funny to me.  But if my running coach would be merciless like that, I would be lame for sure come Christmas. 

The second option when you miss a morning run is to go for late evening, after work, runs.  Good thing there’s a second option and going home to UP everyday makes the setup doable for me.  Then again some evenings are filled with appointments and meetings I cannot easily dismiss or reschedule.  Running addict that I am, I know and recognize that are more important things than running -  Thank God, Cathy is sane!

As I dream of, er I mean I aim for, a better 10K PR I know that I shall have to toughen up and win my early morning combats.  Difficult times are here, difficult times are here…