The following were the data taken from my TIMEX Watch Zone Trainer Digital Heart Monitor in yesterday’s “twice-a-day” run:
AM Run:
Total Time—-1:44:14 hours
In Zone (145-165) Time—-1:42:22 hours
Maximum HR—-166
Minimum HR—-104
Average HR—-147
Total Calories—-1,299
PM Run:
Total Time—-1:40:26 hours
In Zone Time—-1:33:18 hours
Maximum HR—-158
Minimum HR—-98
Average HR—-143
Total Calories—-1,225
While taking a break after my “twice-a-day” run yesterday, I had the time to browse the Playboy Magazines my cousin brought home from California when he had his vacation last October 2007.
Runners need to take a break in order to laugh and smile and don’t be totally serious in their training. So, I am posting some of the jokes that could somehow make us laugh.
The following jokes were taken from the November 2007 issue of Playboy Magazine:
1) A man and his wife were watching a boxing match on television. The husband sighed and said, “Man, what a rip-off! It was all over in four minutes.”
The wife replied, “Now you know how I feel.”
2) Worried about her marriage, a woman visited a psychic.
“There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just be blunt,” the seers said. “Prepare yourself to be a widow. Your husband will die a violent and horrible death this year.”
Shaken, the wife gasped, “Will I be acquitted?”
3) A urologist asked a patient, “How would you describe your love life?”
The patient responded, “Infrequently.”
The urologist asked, “Is that one word or two?”
4) After examining a woman, a doctor took her husband aside and said, “I really don’t like the way your wife looks.”
“Me neither,” the husband said, “but she’s a good cook and gives great head.”
5) Why don’t you play golf with your boss anymore?’ a woman asked her husband.
“Would you like to golf with a guy who moved the ball behind your back?’ the husband asked.
“Well, no,” admitted the wife.
“Neither does my boss,” he replied
To my fellow runners, go back to work & keep on running!
04 January 2008 (AM & PM Runs)
AM Run (5:10 AM-6:50 AM)
Today, I had my “twice-a-day” run. This morning, I woke up at 4:45 AM and I was on the road at 5:10 AM. I started my morning run from my quarters at Fort Bonifacio and proceeded to Market! Market! From Market! Market, I ran through the road infront of the International School up to the road going to the former Gate 1 of Fort Bonifacio. I made my turn-around point at the road going to the former/old St. Michael Chapel and proceeded back to Market! Market!, turning right towards the street fronting the MC Home Depot. I made a left turn at Jollibee and proceeded towards McDonald’s.
Passing infront of One McKinley, I proceeded back to Lawton Avenue, left turn at Bayani Road and entered the Philippine Army Golf Course. I made a 2-mile run at the HPA Grandstand 2-mile course with a time of 16:50 minutes. I had more rounds at the 2-mile course before proceeding back to my quarters. I was able to run for 1:44:14 hours. I was able to run 12.5 miles or 20 kilometers. My average pace was 8:20 mins per mile or 5:12 minutes per kilometer.
PM Run (6:10 PM-7:50 PM)
I had an evening run from my quarters at Fort Bonifacio to the Libingan ng mga Bayani, running along the 2-mile route once, and proceeded to the Bayani Road going towards Lawton Avenue. From Lawton Avenue, I proceeded to The Fort towards Market! Market! and going all the way to the road fronting the International School. I was able to reach the road that goes to the old St. Michael Chapel and back to the crossing at Market! Market! and going right towards MC Home Depot. Upon reaching the Jollibee, I was on my way back to Lawton Avenue and eventually entering Gate 1 of Fort Bonifacio. From there, I had my cool-down run/jogging towards my quarters.
I continuously ran for 1:40:26 hours. I was running at a slower pace after running inside the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The road condition at the Bayani Road was not good and uneven, however, once I reached the portion fronting the Army Golf Course, I was running on the elevated side walk. I was able to run a distance of 11 miles or 17.6 kilometers. My pace was 9:00 minutes per mile or 5:40 minutes per kilometer.
For today, I was able to run a total distance of 23.5 miles or 37.6 kilometers with a total time of 3:24:40 hours.
So far, so good. I hope I can sustain my build-up/strengthening phase and have more long runs before the Marathon D-Day.
During the joint DND-AFP New Year’s Call this morning (04 January 2008) at the AFP Commissioned Officers Club, Camp Aguinaldo, I was introduced by the Secretary of National Defense, Hon Gilberto Teodoro, Jr, to his wife and to the members of the receiving line/hosts as “Vin Diesel”.
During the reception, I was again approached by the Secretary while I was talking with the members of the Defense Press Corps (Media Military beat) and introduced me again as “Vin Diesel” to them. The first time that the Secretary called me as such was after the 72nd Armed Forces of the Philippines Anniversary and Parade held at Camp Aguinaldo last 21 December 2007.
On my first meeting with the Secretary Teodoro, in person, on the third week of November last year in Iloilo City, he was a jolly, friendly and informal/casual in his conversation with me and to the rest of the commanders in my area of operations. He remembered me well as I was the one who introduced and accompanied him during his “courtesy call” to Bishop Angel Lagdameo in Jaro, Iloilo City plus the fact that I was the Host Commander during his brief visit in my Area of Operations.
I really did not know his first impression on me as I was trying to “adjust” to his “casual/informal” style of conversation. But I can see in him seriousness whenever we talk about our mission and concerns in the area. Sometimes, I became emphatic and aggressive on my statements (telling the group on the “realities” and “opportunities/challenges” the military had to take to solve the insurgency problem in the area/region) during our briefing/conference where he was as one of our guests with the Chief of Staff, AFP.
It seems my aggressiveness and being a “risk-taker” made the Secretary think of recalling the name of “Vin Diesel”. Vin Diesel was first known as one of the lead actors of the movie “Fast and Furious” and later became the lead actor of the action-movie “XXX” and now the producer of the movie “Hitman”. I am glad the Secretary did not call me the “Hitman” or “Agent Number 47”.
It is a complement to be called as such from the incumbent Secretary of National Defense and I really like it. It is better than being called then by a former Secretary of National Defense as “Kojak”.
“Vin Diesel” or “Bald Runner”, both are great names for me!
I left Laoag City at 5:00 AM today on board a car to Manila. It was a slow ride due to heavy traffic in almost all the towns and cities we had to pass through along the way. My son enjoyed the scenery of the rice fields and mountains on the east and the sea shore on the west and most of all, the food we had to eat along the way. In a few days, my son will be going back to Los Angeles.
The trip took us almost 13 hours to reach Manila. We were delayed by a “flat tire” which was brought about by a 4-inch nail that punctured one of the car’s rear tires. We were fortunate to bring the car with air to spare up to Tarlac City. The one who fixed/vulcanized the tire said that the nail came from one of the temporary wooden bridges somewhere between San Fernando, La Union and Tarlac City.
On my way to Manila, I was planning to have an evening run at The Fort but the long trip from Laoag City made me tired and undecided. However, after arriving in my quarters, I noticed that I have more things to do to prepare for my “official” duties and activities for tomorrow. So, I finally decided not to run this evening and I have to go to bed early and prepare for longer runs tomorrow.
02 January 2008 (AM Run)
I had an early morning run with my son, John Paul, in Laoag City. We covered a distance of 12.5 miles or 20.16 kilometers.
From Barangay Dibua South, we went to Laoag City/Padsan Bridge and was able to reach the crossing going to the Gabu/Laoag Airport and Suba Road, infront of the Northwestern College. From there, which was our turn-around point, we went back to Laoag City Poblacion and ran along Bacarra Road. And before reaching Divine Word College, we turned left towards the MMSU and ultimately reached the Laoag City Sports Complex where we had “speed runs” along the oval track. We completed at least eight rounds around the oval and additional two rounds for our cool-down run.
We had an elapsed running time of 1:48:15 hours (excluding the cool-down run). We ran at an average pace of 8:39.6 minutes per mile or 5:22 minutes per kilometer.
We were met by my driver and security detail at the Oval Track where we had our “Gatorade” break after running almost one hour and thirty minutes. It was my longest run where I was able to deprive my body from water/fluid intake.
On our way to the Gabu Road, we were running at an average pace of 9:00-9:15 minutes per mile. But from the turn-around point on our way back to the Poblacion and to the Oval Track, my son and I were already racing with one another where he dropped me by almost fifty meters. I was running at an average pace of 8:20-8:30 mins per mile while my son was running at an average pace of 7:45-8:15 mins per mile.
At one time at the Oval Track, we tried to do a Yasso 800 once. My son was timed at 3:45 minutes while I did a poor 4:20 minutes! Well, that was after we were both ran on the road for about 10 miles already.
After the run, we had stretching for 15 minutes and drank Gatorade and lots of water. From the Oval Track, we boarded our car on our way back to our house at Barangay Dibua.
The following data were taken from my Zone Trainer Digital Heart Monitor:
Time “In Zone” (135-165HR)—1:24:24 hours
Maximum HR—167
Average HR—144
Minimum HR—88
Total Calories—1,294
It was a nice run with my son and I am really impressed on his endurance and speed. He told me that he had already started preparing for the next Los Angeles Marathon which will be held on the first Sunday of March 2008.
01 January 2007
I left Manila for Laoag City to visit my parents and to fetch my son and bring him to Manila. I got the morning PAL flight to Laoag City and was busy reading the latest issue of Newsbreak Magazine while in flight.
I was planning to run in the afternoon but visitors and relatives from other provinces came to the house and entertaining these people had ruined my plan.
But before these visitors came to the house, I was able to have at least two hours of sleep and I was able to recover the tired feeling brought by yesterday’s run at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. It was a blessing in disguise that I was not able to run today as the rest/sleep I had this afternoon would provide me more strength to run a farther distance tomorrow morning. I need to sleep early tonight.
My son will be running with me tomorrow morning.
31 December 2007 (PM Run)
I had my New Year’s Eve Run at the Libingan ng mga Bayani along the 2-mile route that I’ve measured. I was able to finish 5 rounds from 4:30 PM-6:10 PM. It was an easy run to end the year 2007.
I was able to run 10 miles or 16 kilometers at 1:33:24 hours. I was running at an average pace of 9:20 minutes per mile or 5:50 mins per kilometer.
The following data were taken from my Zone Trainer Digital Heart Monitor:
Maximum HR—158
Minimum HR—96
Average HR—145
Time “In Zone” (135-165)—1:29:36 hours
Recovery Time—20 minutes
Total Calories—1,171
I was able to sleep after dinner and woke up at 11:00 PM just in time to watch the fireworks from the horizons surrounding Fort Bonifacio. I ate a lot of pasta/”pansit” during the midnight feast to welcome the year 2008.
I am looking forward for more running workouts for the year 2008.
Bald Runner 