4th OctobeRun Festival Results

Sorry guys if I posted this late. Apparently the results were out last tuesday and some of you might have saw it already. I wasn't aware that they have released the results. So for those who wants to see how well they did, you can find he results here: Race Results

Building Base

The most important ingredient for endurance is definitely the long runs. And with all the training I've been doing this is the ingredient that has always been compromised. Yes, tempo runs and intervals makes you fast, but long runs make you last. The reason being is that I'd be joining the New Balance race this november, and if I plan to at least survive 25KM, then I shall need those long runs.

I'm planning to make a base of 10K for most of the trainings and more than that on Sundays. The NB race this coming november will technically be my first 25K race. The previous NB races were all 10Ks. I'm planning to survive this one with a 5min/km pace. So lets see how it goes.

I hope my plantar injury will not come in the way of my training. I'll be partnering more with my Asics Nimbus 9 this time since it has more cushion. For now, New Balance 903 is benched.

This morning I did 10.23KM in 52min 41secs. Tomorrow, I hope I'll do longer. I was suppose to do the 5K holloween run this evening, but it was unfortunate that the race numbers were sold out at ROX. Oh well, maybe evening is a date with my wife.

For those who are joining the Isuzu Shake Rattle and Run later tonight, I hope you'll have a grand time. For those who will be joining the New Balance Power Race, I'll see you guys there.

Thanks to those who Joined the OctobeRun

To all the runners, bloggers, fitness enthusiasts, friends who joined the 4th OctobeRun Festival, I would like to thank you on behalf of the Fort Strider's running club. I hope you enjoyed the race. The race results are still being processed, but it will be posted soon in www.thefortstriders.com and http://fortstriders.multiply.com once the results are out.

For the first time runners I hope this wouldn't be your last. There are races almost every week so I'll see you in most races. :)

Keep on running friends. :)

Fastest Runner didn't Win

I've read this article from runners world: In S.F., Fastest Time Doesn't Win

The fastest runner didn't win, all because she didn't declare herself as an Elite runner? I was like WHAT??? She never got a sub 3 hours in all her previous marathons, and when she got a 12 minute PR, she did not win. And now according to the race officials its her fault for being modest not to consider herself an Elite??

Botak Paabilisan Good Race Day

Its been a long time since my last 5K run at JAL run and I'm about to race again. I could still remember my last JAL run and I'm sure many would agree that a 5K run is equally difficult, or even scarier than racing a 10K if your planning to race it really well. What scares me about 5K races is that the one training ingredient necessary to race this distance well, is the one I always keep on missing. Yes, I've been missing a lot of speedwork sessions.

But I missed this distance so much that I wanted to give it another shot. I've registered at BOTAK Paa-bilisan. As I arrived at the race venue there where like 1000 plus runners in the area. I saw Joms who would be running the 10K distance after claiming my race kit from BOTAK staff.

I was again gonna pace with my friend Regie (supposedly) througout the race. When the gun sounded I tried to get away from the traffic of the crowed and started running as fast as I can. I couldn't find Regie because of the many runners running, but I know somewhere he'll find me and with be running together soon. True to what I thought just after 500 meters Regie appeared out of no where and we were running together. While nearing Lawton avenue I saw Joms. Joms is the ultimate Happy Feet target and if he was running 10K, he's sure is fast. I could see my heart rate quickly shoot to 170 after the first 1K. At 2K it was already reaching 180. On the 3rd kilometer it was reaching 186. Nearing the fourth kilometer my feet began to burn! It haven't felt such sensation before but it felt like overheating. I also felt gasping for air. I knew I need to slow down. I tried, but it seems my heart rate is stuck to 180 plus. So I did the worst or maybe wisest decision to stop and walk as I tried to have my heart rate fall. By this time Regie vanished within my site. Many other runners had passed by including Joms. My spirits were down at that point, but I wanted to race and finish the 5K race running than walking. So I started running again. I kept up my pace until I reached Joms again. I decided to pace with him until finish (Note that he's running 10K). The last 500 meters, Joms motivated me to try and add speed to my pace until the finish. So I tried doing what he said until I reached the finish line (Thanks Joms!). I clocked 21 minutes and 50 seconds (I think). But I need to get the official time from Botak to be sure. I may have called this race a bad race day. But I'm taking this one as a good lesson learned. I've learned to still continue to pace evenly even in short races as 5K. Amidst not being able to get a PR, I was still able to enjoy the race. In fact after the race I got to meet blogger friends Run Unltd, Bro J and Running Fatboy (Thanks Bro J for the wonderful pics). I also got a picture with Ms Elma Muros. To Oknoy and the Botak peeps, congratulations for a great race. Now the only bad race day is if you aren't able to race. But everytime ill finish a race may it be a PR or not, it should either be a good race or a great race.

See you guys on the next races. Keep on running and racing!

4th OctobeRun Race Route

Hi runners and bloggers. For those of you who are asking the OctobeRun race route, its really a common and rewarding route. From NBC tent you go up to Bayani Road leading toward Heritage park and u-turn at the C-5 going back to where you started. My advice is reserve enough energy until the U-turn point because from that point on is a long uphill.

Btw www.thefortstriders.com is temporarily out of service so you can access the multiply site instead: http://fortstriders.multiply.com/

Signup at www.RunnerPlus.com

Its true that the best things in life are free.

A friend and our pastor Nixon asked me to join this website www.runnerplus.com. Compared to all the other running sites I know, this one took my attention. Yes www.runnersworld is still the ultimate website for all the running info, jargons and tools. But www.RunnerPlus.com is one site that motivates you even further. The best thing about this tool is that its free.

If you know facebook and friendster, then this one is pretty much the same. You log your runs and your friends can see them. You can check out how other runners train. You could even try and check how the elite runners train, and maybe try to train as closely like them.

Best of all, the site provides several challenges where you can join like fastest 10K, furthest in a week, furthest in 365 days.

I joined the furthest in 365 days challenge which was created by Pastor Ado. For those of you who have signed up please comment in this blog or you can look for me at the site and invite me. My runnerplus name is "Taki".

Hope you guys signup and lets motivate each other to run further and faster.

Adidas King of the Road Results

The Adidas KOTR Race results are out. I found out about it from the Bull Runner's blog and the race results were taken from runningDATcom's blog.

You can find out about it here: The Bull Runner

Although the KOTR race wasn't a PR for me, I was pretty surprised to see that I'm still within the top 5% finishers.

My next race will be this saturday. The 8K Anta run (I forgot the whole title of the race). See you there. :)

Calibrated at Last!

It was a sign of relief when I was able to calibrate my watch just this morning at the Rizal Memorial stadium. I know I've broken the sacred rest rule after every race, but I was restless to make sure my watch registering distances accurately.

I woke up as early as 5am, got my bike and from our place biked 11K to Rizal memorial. It was a good warm up to calibrate my watch. True to what I've thought, my watch is way out of synced with the track's distance.

After calibrating my watch, tested it with 3 more laps in the 400meter inner loop to make sure its pretty accurate. Now it registered 1.19KM for 3 laps and I was happy it was accurate already.

I was happy I was able to hit two birds with one stone today: Calibrate my watch, and train. I'm calling tomorrow a rest day. :)

My Watch Cheated on Me

I just found out from The Bull Runner that the race distance was acutally accurate. It registered 10.02k on her garmin. Now my Suunto really neads some serious calibration. I'd better get to an oval track soon to calibrate my watch. Tomorrow is suppose to be rest day. But... I just can't wait to have this watch calibrated. It would be a total bummer knowing your training logs are all wrong.

For those who ran the KOTR congratulations. :) Ill see you guys soon on the next races.

Adidas King of the Road Recap

For the longest time I was to run another 10K race. I was kinda anxious about this race because I had been missing so many trainings. But nevertheless I wanted to run a good race. Actually I'm not really sure what pace to run so I decided to rely mainly on my heart rate monitor and maintain a 90% effort throughout the duration of the race. This way I wouldn't have to worry about thinking if I did enough or not at the end. As long as I did my best, regardless of the time, thats enough to make me happy about finishing the race.

It wasn't a PR for me. I finished the race with a time of 44:19. However my Suunto watch said a different story. It registered the distance to be 11.14KM??? And at the 10K mark it was 39:44. Now I don't believe my watch. Maybe it needs to be calibrated. (If my watch was saying the truth, which I highly doubt, then it could be a PR). I would appreciate someone with Garmin to tell the distance that registered on their watch.

Anyway it was a great race and I'm glad I did my best to race it.

The Bicycle Test

Have you asked the question: How long will an unchained bicycle last in a city street. An Argentinian publicist has set out an experiment to gauge the crime rate in a city by leaving an unchained bicycle in different streets and counting the time it takes before it gets stolen. He used hidden cameras and cheap bicycles as a bait. The assumption is simple. If it takes longer for a bike to be stolen, then chances are the crime rate on that city is low. You can see the full article in this link:
How safe is your city? Put it to the bicycle test

I wonder how long will it take for a unchained Road Bike to get stolen? I'd never ever do that with my bike. No Way!

Adidas Race Jitters

My first 10K was the Adidas run at Mall of Asia last year and now its another 10K Adidas race for me. I'm kinda nervous about this race. Not that I might not be able to finish it, but of being able to get my desired race time. I know many has happend recently such as my heel injury, 2 weeks of hibernating from a run, and a total lack of long runs. I don't know how much fitness is lost, but its always the race that gauges it.

Oh well... maybe I'm just putting too much pressure on myself. I need to enjoy it. Its not called a FUN run for nothing. :)

Ah... right.. just enjoy the run... and meet new friends. :)

See you guys at the KOTR.

White Rock Triathlon Oct 4

It was my first time last Saturday to watch live a half iron man event which involved 2KM swim, 90KM bike and 21KM run. It was also my first time to volunteer in assisting on a race event. I was to list down all the triathletes who would pass by the 8th kilometer mark of the run leg. Since my friend Glenn was the run leg race director, he handed me the task. Three of my friend joined the race: Reva, Joy, and Norman. I saw then pass by and I felt a little bit of envy from these guys. At the same time I felt proud that they are there racing one of the country's most difficult races.

Watching every triathlete passing by the 8KM leg, you will really see how difficult it was just to continue with the run leg after 2KM swim, and grueling 90KM bike. I could imagine their legs to be so numb already, and worst of all is they still need to finish 12KM. What makes it even harder is that the last 21K is in the middle of the sun's heat. We runners normally run in the morning to avoid getting sun burned, or dehydrated. But could you imagine all your energy has almost been consumed, and there is still 21KM to go in the middle of the day when the sun is about to take the littlest water you have in your body. I just watched in awe as every triathlete passed by.

For every finisher, regardless of you time congratulations. For the last runner who finished after the organizers packed the finish line, you have my salute. I saw him enter the venue almost limping and saw him fall on the ground because maybe his legs was already numb. But what blew me away was I saw his smile. Regardless of his place in the race, I'm sure he was one of the happiest to finish a feat not many can do. To finish a half iron man.

To my friends Reva, Joy and Norman, congratulations for finishing the race. To Reva, congratulations for getting the 3rd spot in your age category.