Urbanite 15k 081509

My Saturday was big day. In the morning, I had a class (SPIT) where I had to give a kick-ass recitation in redemption of my 2 previous bad ones. In the afternoon, group pics for the yearbook. And of course in the evening, my first 15k and my first night race.

Meal Planning. I never thought it would be an issue planning how i would eat until the day before. I remembered, unlike sunday morning races where I could sleep and digest an unplanned heavy dinner still, the same would not hold true this time. So for the dinner 1 night before, I went for carbs and rai supported me by having the exact same meal hehe. Breakfast was nonexistent, as usual during cramming mornings :( but i was able to grab a bottle of gatorade. Lunch with charles at kimono ken, in just the right quantity, ie, not as gluttonous as we are used too haha. A trail mix bar right before the race too. I should've gotten a banana instead had i known i what would happen later. But a nice strategy. I didn't feel heavy or bloated nor hungry.

Off we go. My first thought: ANG DILIM! Especially at Bayani road where there were some potholes.

Oddly, I enjoyed the Heritage Park. It was calm. Quiet. Peaceful?...Probably because everyone did not dare disturb the place. Haha. Oh, except for this guy who kept saying "awoooooo".

My foot pod was accurate up until 11k...guess where that is...deym Mckinley Hills. My short strides fooled my foot pod into adding 2k more than its actual distance..the stretch seemed to never end (!). I walked some uphill parts going back to the entrance.

Finish line. Crossed the finish line with 2:09 at the clock. Haha! Made the mistake too that I stopped immediately without cooling down. True enough I got cramps on my left calf while I was lining up for my finisher's certificate. And from then on I wasn't in a bright mood, didn't feel like taking pictures nor answering questions for an interview (haha!). Because Ronald asked me if they could have a short interview with me for their show (Autoreview) but I volunteered Charles instead. I forgot to take a picture of him (sorry) because my calf was extremely painful at the time, i had to walk around. Sorry too Ronald, I'm ordinarily accommodating and you know that. Haha. Anyway, there's always next time.

Road test: Fuel Belt Slim Pocket Race Number Belt and Hammer Gel. First time to use the belt in a race. Bib was well secured and i'm happy that my shirts would have a break from safety pin punctures, which really is more painful for me than for the shirts. It can double as car key pocket during training runs. I just slide the pocket side to the back. The race belt has gel carriers at the sides, a total of 10! Maybe some guy out there would find them useful. I brought some, just two, but i placed them inside the pocket so naturally the weight was not well distributed. I should've placed them in the carriers.

It was my first time also to use Hammer Gel, tropical and raspberry flavors. I think I should've brought just one, I consumed the second one just so i won't be carrying it around anymore and because it was so yummy hehe. Effective? Maybe...essentially they're caffeine shots in compact and easy to consume form, more runner-friendly (unlike Lipovitan and Red Bull which I used during taek competitions).

ETC. I wanted a breezy outfit so i wore wore my nike tank and running shorts. I forgot that the reflectors fell off my shorts a long time ago. Minor chafing too. :(. Next time, don't forget the petroleum jelly.

Also, while waiting for the gun, I challenged Charles to count how many are wearing this ensemble: i am ninoy shirt, cwx full tights, newtons/lunarglides. I don't understand this pauso. It's like running's gossip girl.

Longer distance? So now that I know I can finish a 15k in not so bad a time (although really off my target because im so competitive, hehehe) I think I should run more of those. Half marathon? Soon, but not too soon.

Now I we move on to Aug 30 preps. Swimming and biking here we go.

What troubles me about tom's night run

1. parking lot problems (whether or not they're safe, and whether or not space is adequate for everyone)
   
2. will car drivers be cautious
3. mumu at the heritage park....awwoooooo
4. no one will see if my face turns blue...haha
5. angry runners...proliferating by the second (jeez people, there are a lot of other things to rant about)
6. how to eat (heavy bfast or heavy lunch? definitely no dinner until after.)
7. black singlet on a night run? (bad idea i think, although i don't wear them anyway).
8. seeing people i don't want to see (bitter? hehe)
9. will i need to bring my own hydration
10. and most important of all, how i will take nice pictures...haha.
    

Upcoming Running Events: Kenny Roger's Urbanite Run, UP Law Invitational Triathlon

Today, I went registration-crazy. Races that are, ahem, not really that budget friendly, but nonetheless I shelled out some (ouch) because...well...read on.

August 15: KENNY ROGER'S URBANITE RUN

The registration costs Php 600. Wow right? The usual question creeps up: what makes this run so special? The advertisement/press release mentions--

(1) that it's a night run, with all those glow in the dark paraphernalia
(2) championchips timing
(3) a free kenny roger's meal
(4) that it's inclusive of a donation to a charitable institution (in short, it's for a cause...smile smile smile)
(5) the presence of Marc Nelson, Rovilson Fernandez and Phil Younghusband
(6) an after-party

Half-eaten Urbanite Meal

Normally, I would say that Php 600 is too much. But items #1, 3 and most especially, 5...these are worth the premium. hehe. Honestly, I don't care about champion chip timing, I mean, who needs his time recognized worldwide (exception: the "elite"...no not the ateneans :P). And an after-party.. don't we all just want to sleep afterwards? About the donation, well, I just meant that I don't care where it goes.

I have no idea of what the route will be like. Btw, this will be my first 15k. Haha.

The registration is pretty much like Globe's Run For Home. Go the participating branch, fill-up the form, pay the fee, a stub is given to you, claim the race kit another day in another city. Same organizer btw, that's why. Well, the race is quite interesting, you'd have reason to make the effort.

August 30: UP LAW 1ST INVITATIONAL TRIATHLON

I've been thinking about the individual tri for quite some time now, and to stop wasting time with just thinking instead of training, i found myself registering at the dean's office this afternoon. Charles offered his bike, and then I also purchased some gear way out of schedule (and budget) all of which needs to be justified. Yun. Wala na akong excuse. :O

With Eric P the Event Coordinator.
The paper was supposed to be my reg form na baliktad. :s

The route is quite simple and straight forward, maximizing UP's usual "running destinations". The main challenge would be the bike part. Will I be needing my 10 year old girl knee pads?

The Dean is preparing for this diligently. Word on the street, he just purchased a bike and 2 new pairs of shoes. He's very athletic, I see him sometimes in Celebrity. No wonder he is very enthusiastic with the project.

NOW, the training begins. Want to join me? :D

Globe Run For Home 10k 07192009

I got up especially early for this. Hmp. What's so special about this race that I had to make the effort, in addition to registering in a Globe Business Center (Step 1) and picking up the race pack 2 days before the race...in a different city (Step 2).

Still wanting to sleep, i dragged myself to the starting line at 5am to send off Charles and Roy, then sat around and waited for my brain to wake up. Saw Tuesday during that interval, one of my Taekwondo friends, who jolted me up with a little good morning chit chat (taekwondo friends are making the move to less stressful sports, you see).

And then off I went for another fort-buendia 10k race at 5:45, prompt and exact. Nice. It's pretty much the same as the other fort b races I've joined, except for the fact that (1) I was using a Champion Chip (2) there were lots of water and sports drinks going around (3) there were some km markers along the way. Wow, well prepared I must say.

There were a lot of high profile persons running with us: the big bosses of Ayala, some society figures (Rai, I think I saw idol Ms. M.P.!) and Rovilson (hehe) who inspired me for some kilometers before I had to slow my pace down. Saw Raya again while I was near the u-turn (another taekwondo colleague veering away, hehe). I realized that big races like this one is also a chance to show off your popularity. This person I'm at pace with was greeted by at least 10 people. He should get 10 seconds off his time as a bonus.

Finishing the course (Step 3), I was extremely exhausted. It was not a good feeling, realizing how out of shape I was. I started to blame lawschool and the lack of training time but after some thinking, I realized I did slash off 5 minutes from my last fort-buendia 10k. OA lang ako. Hehe. So from then I was feeling giddy again (or the endorphins' effect was just delayed because of hunger).

Flyers say that the results will be out on Thursday and will be posted in Globe's website (Step 4). A little long for a wait, but I don't mind. I'm interested though on the "analysis" which comes with the Champion Chip.

So, was it worth all the effort doing all those steps? The press release answer to that is "Yes, because it was for a cause. I helped build a home." Smile smile smile. :D But kidding aside, the race was well organized and ran smoothly despite the size of the crowd. However, it would be better if the race wasn't that pa-VIP expecting people to take time off for more than once, as for the Champion Chips, we have yet to see its premium until the results and analysis.

PTAA Run; Time Management

Before I get drowned in law school backlog (and eventually, blog backlog :P), just a short note on my recent activities.

Lately I have been gradually decreasing my mileage for two reasons: tamad and school gets in the way (spell OLA). My suunto would even complain and make tampo. It keeps asking me to decrease my activity class level (3 times now since ie8 run, from 8.0 to 7.0. boo.). That only means I'm on the way to stagnant.

Went to the ptaa fun run last sunday for a 10k. It was my first time to join a road race in my home court, upd. Happy bec I improved on my time (probably because there isn't a flyover in upd hehe) and I had taho right after. Yes, that's my thing. Yum. :) However, I found the route somewhat redundant not only because i've coursed through those backstreets since varsity years (whether on foot or on an ikot jeepney) but also because we had to go through the race route twice. I wish they had stuck with the original plan which traverses area 2 (?).

Well, I guess that's about it for ptaa run. Hehe.

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as I've said earlier, Im having a little difficulty injecting running hours in my schedule.

Computation:
19 units = 19 hours of class per week
19 x 2 hours preparation (at least) = 38 hours per week
8 hours rest per day (recommended) = 56 hours per week
8 hours leisure per day (eat, exercise, "exercise", entertainment, etc...again recommended) = 56
GRAND TOTAL: 169
hours per week : 7d x 24h = 168h
DEFICIT: 1 hour (at least).

Of course, the least priority would be slashed off....sleep. Hehe. As they say, mabuti nang walang tulog kaysa walang gising. XD

IE8 Rain Run

IE8 run was interesting because (1) it was drizzling (2) 8 miles is not too long yet not too short either (3) lots of water, we could swim and (4) lots of surprise snacks (5) raffle prizes. I found some things odd though, like kropek and coke (office merienda time?), the cheerleaders i bet most have found annoying rather than encouraging, and the turnaround point beyond da riles and in the middle of the highway.

Anyway, it was a good run and I didn't mind the extra kilometers (about 1km++ more). More means more calories burned. Haha.

New Habits. I'm starting to prefer wearing tanks. It is more comfortable and...ahem...mas maporma. Haha. I'm also starting to prefer running without music. I tried counting 1-10 over and over, because it gets a little boring 5kms in and after noticing the lactic acid starting to build up. Effective, I must say, kept me on pace until 8km.

Road Test. This time I was able to road test my adidas powerweb 3/4 tights and my adidas adizero tempo.

Honestly, during the run, there was no noticeable difference with this pair of tights with my others (nike). But, I did notice that the usual after-race pain was a lot lot less. The technology was developed to lessen injuries and shorten the time for recovery, so, yes, powerweb technology works and it is worth the price you pay for.

On the other hand, the adidas adizero tempo II was designed to be a lightweight trainer. It IS very light but still with enough cushioning and support. Very flexible and springy too. And it's pink. I <3 it. :D

Race Anecdotes. Saw a friend's ex and my jaw dropped when I saw how toned and muscular she is now, but still pretty nonetheless. She looks successful (since she looks like she has all the time in her hands to train. podium finisher...jaw drops again). Ito ba ang buhay pagkatapos ni MM? (chismax...)

Because I didn't zone out with an ipod, I discovered a new annoying thing: men bragging while running.

Lastly, maybe there should be a book on manners we all could read because i found it appalling that this guy overtook me about 5-8 meters from the barricades of the finish line. Grr.

Hearty Breakfast. Charles and I tried out Paul Calvin's Breakfast Buffet. For 250, it was surely satisfying. Loved the bread and the hotel-style egg station. Will definitely go back there. Yum! :D

TNF100 10k Trail Run; Road Testing Suunto T4c

Last weekend was much fun, I must say. My first trail and my first out of town run. Something that will make me smile for days to come.

We arrived at our hotel on Saturday evening, after some long stopovers and shopping and after touring the red light district with all them girly and "hosto" bars...which suddenly reminded me of a plan i conjured with owen, raissa and mini.

Next morning, we arrived early and saw that a lot of people were even earlier than us. The 20k and 10k started on time and off we went to trudge on narrow trails, lahar lands, the Sacobia (sediment) River, a hill, muddy paths and a long long stretch of bridge with the sun shining brightly above us. Surprisingly, and thank god, I came out without a scratch. I was feeling artista posing for ben chan (and other cameras, hehe) trigger happy along the route, appearing here and there like Ina Magenta. (Sorry, I won't post the unglamorous pics. Hehe.)

So the verdict was, I enjoyed it. The route was fun, bountiful water, and no chance of getting lost. Great! :D

Road Test. I brought along my Suunto T4c. I'm really glad I bought the foot pod instead of the gps pod. According to reviews, the gps pod often struggles in trails. Also, I kept hearing others' Garmins looking for gps signal along the route. Anyway, it was great to have an idea how much more to go instead of relying on marshalls' "malapit na". It was also funny to see actual data on how i slowed down gradually. Haha.

As a training companion, it certainly beats an ordinary sportswatch. With a heart rate monitor and a built in coach, it tells you when to train, how hard you have been training and adjusts the program accordingly depending on your previous runs' intensity. It also introduces the concept of "training effect" which is supposed to be a new and improved heart rate zone training variation. I have yet to understand it though haha. It's cool, i tell you. (See full specs here). However, I feel like I have too many gadgets on me sometimes (parang rambo), which is why I leave behind the nike+ipod when I don't feel like it. Highly recommended, unless you prefer gps.

Ran a 10k at Botak Paa-Tibayan 5.10.2009

I have not much to say about this except that it was a lesson learned not to run while recovering from a flu. I am too lazy to recount the whole experience but to say it in one quick sentence, dehydration was scary and was torture to the abdomen (cramps, aka side stitches). It was rather wise that I stopped moving for a while and gulped down maybe half of the supply in one water station. I later learned that some people were not able to get water, so maybe it was partly my fault. Hahaha. I even felt the water sloshing in my stomach going back. Fortunately, there are is not a single photograph of that unglamorous moment. :D

Road Test. During this race, I was able to road test the running mix i just made. It was a good combination of songs, kept me going especially in the last part of the run. As the playlist was just a little under 1: 30, I panicked when it came to the last songs and sped up. Fortunately my run ended before my mix did. I have a new powersong: Led Zeppelin's Kashmir. I know, I'm so cool.

Semi-reunion. Road races are becoming sites to meeting long lost taekwondo friends. Spotted the ultimate sporty De Los Reyes Family at their booth (Autoreview).

Mrs. Kim. Charles was still in race mode driving back and didn't even realize he drove into the honda civic's bumper he was tailing. Just a small scratch, but the catch was the driver--Mrs. Kim, the Chinese foreigner with no tagalog and little english. Cool! No one was harmed except Roy who suffered a "nosebleed".

Well, that's all I have to say for this semi-adventure. :D

The Scientific Way of Building a Running Mix

For those like me who are very hardheaded and anti-social, earphones and mp3 players are necessary partners during workout sessions. I don't make playlists for specific purposes like this. I just play an album i feel like listening to. The advantages are, well aside from gym buddies/fellow runners not bothering to talk to you, you choose the music/artist unlike canned gym sounds (akon, jai ho and Flo-rida), it would go on until you press stop, and you wouldn't have to deal with fellows watching tv full blast (makes you think twice why they go to the gym in the first place). The disadvantages however are a lot, you are confined to one artist, the beats per minute (bpm) vary extremely and randomly, the playlist does not run long enough for those long sessions which means you have to listen to the some songs twice, and lastly, because of the second reason, you may get tired of the songs or the artist prematurely. The only exception to all these, in my experience is...Lady Gaga. Haha.

Now that I'm re-emerging from my recovering period post-injury and after reading a few running books i've picked up in a Booksale spree, I've decided to take on a training plan and at the same time do this as scientifically as possible in order to prevent more injuries. After all, I am only 24 and it would be extremely embarassing if i look like i already have arthritis at this age. For years, I have been a pampered athlete, with a good coach always at my side to tell me what I'm doing wrong, whether it's my form, technique, or whatever. I get the reinforcement when needed. Now, it would take time for me to get used to being independent.

Aside from buying the ultimate training companion, which is another story, I figured I should incorporate my ipod in my development. Athough my nike+ toy increased in accuracy after a a few tries in calibration, maybe I could do more with it like thing is to play music at a certain bpm rate for "propulsion".

As much as a geek I am, I pretty much treated this task as a mystery-solving scooby doo adventure. Getting ready to play mixes in podrunner.com gets tiring at one point, although they do cook up some nice tracks.

The first task is to find the ideal bpm, and this chart which I got in run2r.com (run2rhythm) proved to be quite useful:

10 min/km	9 min/km	8 min/km	7 min/km	6 min/k	5 min/km	4 min/km
16 min/mile	14 min/mile	12 min/mile	10 min/mile	9 min/mile	8 min/mile	6 min/mile
150bpm	153bpm	156bpm	160bpm	163bpm	166bpm	171bpm

As for me, I found these suggested rates too fast for my taste. Most of my trance/techno collection are way too slow (130-150) but anyway, i chose to keep a range instead, and scavenge my mp3s for songs matching the range. One can find out the song's bpms in database sites like bpmdatabase.com or if you have much time to spare, you can check the bpm of your current mp3 collection using downloadable applications or an online tool. The iTunes BPM software (Mac) is especially helpful because you just tap your mousepad to the beat and click the set button to embed the data automatically in your mp3 file, much like when you edit the mp3 file info via command+i.

Funny thing though, I didn't know it would take me hours just to build a playlist which is only 1.5 hours long (and i'm even 4 minutes short) notwithstanding the comprehensive mp3 collection I have eating up my hard disk space. And now, realizing that it's just much too tedious, I would have to go back to playing albums during runs/workouts instead and bringing along a watch. But on the other hand, it was a nice exercise because through this I discovered non-dance music that I can play for runs, like for example, Led Zeppelin and The Ramones.

So here's my own mix, arranged from slowest to fastest (150-165 bpm):

• Jason Mraz - Make It Mine
• The Killers - Mr. Brightside
• Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl
• Jason Mraz - I'm Yours
• Massive Attack - Tear Drop
• The Killers - Spaceman
• Toni Basil - Mickey (Yes! Mickey!)
• The Cure - Just Like Heaven
• Fatboy Slim - The Rockafeller Skank
• Jason Mraz - I Melt With You
• The Cure - A Forest
• Offspring - Come Out and Play
• Devo - Whip It (Haha!)
• Michale Sembello - Maniac (more Haha!)
• Led Zeppelin - Dyer Maker
• Led Zeppelin - Kashmir
• U2 - Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
• The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
• Led Zeppelin - Black Dog

Til the next useless project. I shall use the playlist while running Botak (10k) on May 10 and see what happens.:D

Twitter-ing While Running the London Marathon

Summer days are for getting fit and updating my blog. I can't do both at the same time but some people can, like Peter Wilkinson. He updates his twitter page while he runs the London Marathon. He is at mile 17 as of print time. See his twitter page here. See cnn article here.
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CNN man on course in London Marathon 'tweet' bid

• Story Highlights
• CNN journalist Pete Wilkinson "tweets" during the London Marathon
  
• Wilkinson hopes to finish the race in four hours, while posting Twitter updates
  
• Wilkinson's main concern is crashing into other runners
  

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A CNN.com journalist is on course to achieve his goal of "tweeting" the London Marathon.

Pete Wilkinson, a digital news producer at CNN.com in London, is updating his Twitter page during Sunday's race via text messages from his cellphone.

Wilkinson is more than half way round the iconic 42.1 kilometer (26.2 miles) route and remains on schedule to complete the race in his four-hour target time.

"Crossing tower bridge almost half way now north of river hurrah," Wilkinson wrote at the halfway point. Follow Pete as he tweets

"Crowds are unbelievable really keeping me going never run this fast before," he said.

Prior to the event, Wilkinson had said he wasn't sure if his plan would work and admitted it was "incredibly hard" to send text messages and run at the same time."My main problem is going to be not crashing into other people," Wilkinson told CNN's Isha Sesay. "I don't think I'll have time to stop for too long."

"Here we go! Walking to the start now. Greetings to all cnn viewers and readers," Wilkinson wrote in his first tweet of the day.

Wilkinson said he was standing at the start next to runners dressed as the Sergeant Pepper-era Beatles. "Gonna be long winding road," he wrote.

He's not the first marathon runner to tweet during the race -- a Google search turned up one runner who tweeted during last year's Boston Marathon and another who plans to do it during Sunday's race in London. But it's new enough that Wilkinson said he wants to give it a go.

"I'm hoping it will detract attention from my running," said Wilkinson. "It seemed a good way to do something new." Watch Pete explain why he wants to tweet his epic run »

Wilkinson is also running for charity and said any extra attention it brings to his cause "can't be a bad thing."

The London Marathon starts in Greenwich, in the southeast of the city, and goes along the River Thames. It takes in a number of landmarks including the Tower of London, Parliament and Big Ben before ending at Buckingham Palace.

More than 35,000 runners are expected to take part, according to marathon organizers.

Race officials have advised Wilkinson not to tweet while running because of safety, concerned he might bump into other runners or trip over, but they won't prevent him from tweeting, he said.

And what will Wilkinson be updating his followers with on race day?

"I'm going to tweet about how my muscles are feeling, how my knees are feeling," he said. "My goal is to finish in four hours, so I'll keep people informed about whether I'm going to make that. I suspect only my mother is going to be following me anyway."

The Flora London Marathon, as the race is officially known, takes place each April and is one of the top marathons in the world.

All six male and female medallists from the marathon at the Beijing Olympics last year were running, in the event, along with celebrities including chef Gordon Ramsay and ITN correspondent Tim Ewart.

Germany's Irina Mikitenko won the women's race in a time of two hours, 22 minutes and 11 seconds.

The top prize for male and female finishers is $55,000. Wilkinson was not considered to be among the favorites