Month: November 2008

Pictures @ VSO Run

On By kingofpotsIn Jogging, Pictures, Races, Running5 Comments

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High Altitude, Aldz, & friend with the Bald Runner before the start of the race.

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 The 15K race started ahead of the 10K & 5K races at 5:49 AM

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 Captain Espejo, Coach of Team Bald Runner, won 1st Place in the 5K’s Age Category of 40-49 yrs old. 

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 Maricel Maquillan of Team Bald Runner won 1st Place in the Women’s Overall Category in the 15K Race

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 Ailene Tolentino of Team Bald Runner won 2nd Place in the Women’s Overall Category in the 15K Race

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The Bald Runner got his PR Best Time for the 15K Race. 

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I was still smiling after the 15K race not knowing that I broke my time for the 15K distance

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Captain Espejo, Jinoe, Wayne aka SF Runner & Dindo. Jinoe & Wayne donated their running shoes to Project Donate A Shoe. Jinoe also donated a bagful of “metal buttons” for donors to the project. Thanks, Wayne & Jinoe for your generosity & support.

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The runner on the left, Danilo Bawic of Global Runners, who won 6th Place Overall in the 15K race, was the lucky recipient of Wayne’s shoe donation. Wayne aka SF Runner is seen giving a brand-new ASICS shoes to Mr Bawic.

“I Broke My 15K PR Best @ VSO Run”

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Races, Running17 Comments

Race Report: VSO “Bahaginan” 15K Run @ The Fort

Due to technical problem of not being able to access my blogsite for the past days, I really did not know exactly my past finish times for the past 2 renditions of the Mizuno-Rush Infinity 15 Runs for this year before I left my place for this 15K road race. My race strategy was to run an even-pace of 4:45 mins/km up to 4:55 mins/km. Actually, my target was to run an even-pace of below 5:00 mins/km for the whole distance.

Knowing that the race starts at 5:30 AM, I was already at The Fort at 4:50 AM and started to do my stretching and warm-up run. I was already sweating when I entered the starting area at least 15 minutes before the race started. I saw the usual faces and “new” runners who introduced themselves. I was able to have a brief chat with some of The Happy Feet Runners, High Altitude, Aldz, JayR, Roselle, Joms, Foreign Runner, RunUnlimited, and members of the Team Bald Runner.

Finally, the race started after the Emcee announced that the race starts after 10 seconds and the countdown followed. My GF 305 registered 5:49 AM as the start time which was good enough because it was still dark at 5:30 AM. I started my run by pressing the start button of my GF 305 and controlled my emotion of not being carried away with the pace of the elite runners at the front and the “younger runner-bloggers”. From Km 1 up to Km 8, I was able to maintain an average pace of 4:36 mins/km up to 4:51 mins/km. From Km 9 up to the Finish, I registered an average pace of 5:01 up to 5:25 mins/km, except for Km 13 where I finished in 4:58 mins. As usual, the uphill terrain at the Bayani Road and McKinley Hill slowed my pace but I felt I did not push my pace “too hard” along these parts of the route.

After I reached the Finish Line, my GF 305 registered a time of 1:14:43 with a distance of 15.11 kilometers. My average pace for the race was 4:56 mins/km with an average HR of 157 bpm and maximum HR of 163 bpm.

For this race, I was able to set my PR Best time for the 15K run by shaving off 2:10 minutes from my previous time of 1:16:53 during the 1st Mizuno-Rush Infinity 15K Run.

After the race, I immediately changed my drenched running kit and had some photo-ops with the other “runner-bloggers”. As I stayed at the BR’s Project Donate A Shoe booth, I was able to meet Wayne aka SFRunner who just arrived from San Francisco yesterday morning for a 10-day vacation in the country. He donated a brand-new ASICS Gel-Landreth Running Shoes which was in turn given by Wayne to a recipient who was wearing a 2-year old ASICS shoes. Thanks, Wayne for the generosity and for spending your “running” vacation here.

Congratulations to Coach Rio, staff, and volunteers for a wonderful and enjoyable 15K race. Good job!

(Note: Pictures could not be uploaded due to technical problems from WordPress. Pictures will be posted later)

Two Days Before Race Day

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Runners' Training, RunningLeave a comment

6:12 PM 07 November 2008 @ The ULTRA Oval Track

Together with one of the runners of Team Bald Runner who is personally supervising my daily workouts at the Oval Track, I had an easy and even-paced 10K run with a time of 50:25 minutes and an average pace of 5:03 minutes/km. I registered an average HR of 149 bpm and maximum HR of 159 bpm. What I learned during this run was to maintain an even pace from start to finish of the run and I was reminded by my partner/coach for the run to develop a “cadence”. He reminded me also to be light on my feet once they touch the ground and must be able to lift my knees a little higher during my legs’ “turnover”.

After 25 laps around the oval track, we had two laps of slow jog and had our “water break”. After about 2-minute rest, I asked my running-partner/coach to walk towards the concrete bleacher on the west side of the oval track and told him that I need to do at least 10 reps of hill sprints along the stairs of the bleacher from the lower row to the top most area. We did, at least, 12 reps at a moderate speed which made my leg muscles “burned & fatigued” after each repetition. We had to walk at the top level and walk our way down to the start. I did not record the time on how fast we were doing those hill sprint repetitions but I could estimate to be at 12 seconds per sprint. This workout is an example of Brad Hudson’s “Run Faster” principle of adaptive running where a runner should take an extra “mile” or workout after an scheduled workout. He calls this term as “progression runs”. These runs could be hill sprints or hill repetitions; additional 20-minute run at moderate pace after an easy run; or fast-paced 2K run after an interval or tempo run workout. 

After the hill sprints reps, we walked for two laps around the oval track in order to cool-down our leg muscles before we had our stretching. My running-partner/coach gave me a massage after the usual “personnel-assisted” stretching routine.

5:47 PM 08 November 2008 @ The ULTRA Oval Track

It was Saturday early evening, at least 12 hours before the VSO 15K Road Race, and I went to the ULTRA Oval Track for a short and slow run to loosen my leg muscles and to “sweat it out” for the day. I did 3 sets of 6-lap run and was able to finish 18 laps. I finished the 1st set in 16:46 minutes with an average pace of 6:46 mins/km; the 2nd set was timed in 12:50 minutes with an average pace of 5:16 mins/km; the last set (cool-down) was timed in 15:33 minutes with an average pace of 6:15 mins/km. There were no recovery runs in between sets. However, “water breaks” were observed after sets.

A walk around the oval and post-stretching exercises terminated my workout. I was able to run a distance of 7.49 kilometers.

(Note: Posting of this story was delayed because of some technical problems with WordPress)

Another 50 Laps #2

On By kingofpotsIn Jogging, Runners' Training, Running5 Comments

5:50 PM 06 November 2008 @ The ULTRA Oval Track

After some exchange of SMS with MarkFB, I was “primed” for another 50 laps at the ULTRA Oval Track as my running workout for the day. I sent a SMS to Bugobugo85 after receiving an e-mail message from him telling him about our plan for a 50-lap run at the oval that afternoon. Bugobugo85 had to decline because he had his morning run already.

I arrived at the Oval Track at 5:45 PM and I could see Mark doing his run already. I just did a brief stretching and immediately joined him for the workout. We finished our first 25 laps, covering a distance of 10.33 kms, in 57:22 minutes with an average pace of 5:33 minutes/km. My HR ranged from an average of 138 bpm to a Maximum Rate of 151 bpm.

I had to stop for my “water break” and for my recovery walk after my first 25 laps while Mark continued his running. After my brief break, I re-joined Mark and did my second set of 25 laps with a slower pace. I finished my 2nd 25-lap run in 58:51 minutes with a distance of 10.26 kilometers. My average pace was 5:44 mins/km and HR range of 138 bpm to 145 bpm as my Maximum HR.

I finished 20.59 kms for this particular easy long run at the oval track with an aggregate time of 1:56:23 hours.

150 Days: Wednesday’s “Double” Run

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Runners' Training, Running3 Comments

5:30 AM 05 November 2008 @ The ULTRA Oval Track

Since I did not have my running workout for Tuesday, I decided to have my morning workout for the following day after being used to going to the ULTRA Oval Track in the late afternoon or early evening. As soon as I arrived at the Oval Track, I saw a number of runners, maybe about 6-8 runners, and from a distance I saw Prometheus Cometh and Amado, the “daily brisk walker”, having a conversation while doing their workout. In a short momemt, I joined the two where Prometheus and I were doing a slow jog while Amado was doing his “brisk walking”. It was an opportunity to officially meet Amado in person who started to post his comments to this blog after I posted my shoe review for the NIKE Lunaracer as to whom I was referring to as the “daily brisk walker” and he was seen wearing the said running shoes at the ULTRA Oval Track.

The meeting, while doing my running workout, was a chance to talk to other people who are passionate in physical fitness and active healthy lifestyle. For the past days, I met and talked to Kathy Santillan, a TV news anchorwoman; I said “Hi” to Karen Davila who is also a TV Newscaster; talked to other “runner-bloggers” and other visitors of this blog; and now Amado whom I’ve been seeing almost every day at the Oval Track doing his “brisk walking/walkathon” workout.

Amado, Prom and I covered a lot of topics about running and plans to join the scheduled races for the month of November and beyond. Conversation is not complete if we don’t talk about our respective families and our work and interests. While doing the conversation, I was surprised that we were hitting 6:45-7:00 mins/km average pace during our workout. It might be a slow pace for Prom and I but I was really amazed with the stamina and consistency of Amado’s pace. This guy is strong even if he is 2 years older than me!

Later, Prom and Amado excused themselves and left the track after one hour plus and I was left alone still doing my easy run. I finished my workout after my GF 305 registered a distance of 10 kms. After the run, I did some simple running “drills” and pylometric exercises before going through my post-stretching exercises. After my workout, I just rested and relaxed by observing the other runners doing their  workouts under the supervision of their respective coaches.

 

5:45 PM 05 November 2008 @ The ULTRA Oval Track

I felt that I still need to run on this day. At 5:30 PM, I was already at the ULTRA doing my stretching exercises as I was decided to do my interval training. I started my run with 5 laps as my warm-up run with an average pace of 6:20 mins/km. I made sure to have my “water break” every time I finished 5 laps. My workout interval training was to do 5 repetitions of 2K within my race pace of 4:45 mins/km with 2-3 minutes of recovery jog & “water break”.

I did my first rep in 9:06 minutes with an average pace of 4:19 mins/km (HR: 158-165); finishing the 1st Km in 4:21 mins/km and the 2nd Km in 4:19 mins/km. It was a very fast pace for my 1st interval. I need to control myself and don’t be carried away by the pace of other faster runners on the track. After one lap of recovery run and “water break”, I did my 2nd rep with the thought of making my pace a slower one this time and the rest of my repetition runs. The following were the results of my interval runs from 2nd to 5th reps:

2nd rep—9:37 minutes @ 4:38 mins/km pace (HR: 155-162)

3rd rep—10:10 minutes @ 4:55 mins/km pace (HR: 148-158)

4th rep—10:00 minutes @ 4:49 mins/km pace (HR: 150-159)

5th rep—10:00 minutes @ 4:50 mins/km pace (HR: 148-158)

I finished my workout with another 5 laps of slow jog at an average pace of 6:45-7:00 mins/km. My overall workout for the evening culminated with a “personnel-assisted” stretching routine which I badly needed to stretch my leg muscles and core.

I was able to run 40 laps which is equivalent to 10 miles or 16 kilometers for the evening’s workout. For the “double” workout for the day, I was able to cover a distance of 26 kilometers.

Bald Runner: 1st Year Anniversary

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Running25 Comments

Banana Running’s post about her 1st Year Anniversary gave me an idea to come up also with a year- end review and assessment about this blog. Actually, I was thinking of coming up with a post with regards to my one-year review and assessment of my running training and performance. But I have to deal first with the easier task of telling my readers what transpired with this blog for the past one year.

Last April 2007, I started blogging with “Blogger” as the Western Visayas Commander of Philippine Army troops and para-military units where I posted the Command’s activities, plans, actions, accomplishments and civic-oriented activities geared towards the accomplishment of our mission in the area. My posts were about military operations and civil-military activities within the islands of Panay, Negros, Guimaras, Siquijor, Cebu, and Bohol. This blog became my medium of transmitting my “media releases” to the different news reporters who are based in Iloilo City, Bacolod City and Cebu City as my Division Headquarters in Jamindan, Capiz could be hardly reached by land transportation from the news reporters.

On the last week of October 2007, I was browsing the internet with the plan of making some research about running and ultimately coming up with a plan to record or journalize my running workouts along the mountains of Jamindan. As I “googled” the words “running + Philippines”, I was surprised to see the blog of The Bull Runner at WordPress. This was my first exposure to WordPress and I was inspired what The Bull Runner had started for the past 5 months before I started “blogging” with the title name “Bald Runner” with WordPress. And the rest is history.

I consider the following factors or reasons why this blog had been visited for the past year:

1) As the Chairman of the “DND-AFP GIntong Pangarap For Marathon Program”, I was able to use this blog to announce the schedule, activities, and results of the past Half-Marathon, half-marathon relay and lesser distance road races we had conducted. It was unfortunate that I had to recommend, through this blog, the closure of this program.

2) By initially donating my four (4) pairs of running shoes, this gave birth to “Project Donate A Shoe” which so far received 50 pairs of donated running shoes (from here and abroad) and distributed the same number to recipients with “old, torn, tattered, and over-used” running shoes.

3) My Race Reports to the different road races I’ve participated locally and in the USA with my “running” pictures.

4) My Running Shoes Reviews. My shoe review on the ASICS Gel-Kinsei 2 is the top most topic/post being read in this blog with almost 5,900 hits since I posted such review.

5) The “1,000-Km Club” became popular as a motivating factor to all runners where every increment of 100 kms has a corresponding “treat or gift”. The runner must come up for his/her “ultimate gift or treat” once he/she reaches 1,000-Km total. This is also a way for a runner to monitor his mileage within the week or month.

6) My daily training workouts and my training philosophy in running. Patience and Consistency are the principles of training in running which I consider as the most important. Whether you follow the Lydiard’s Way; Galloway’s Method; Bowerman’s Way; Salazar’s Techniques; Hudson’s Adaptive Training; Macmillan’s Performance; Jack Daniel’s “Hard & Easy” Days; or Stephen Daniel’s “High-Intensity Interval sessions, each runner must be able to undergo the following phases in preparation to a certain race—base-building for endurance; sharpening and speed phase; tapering; & recovery. 

7) This blog is about competition and getting the best finish time every race. Every runner must be able to compete with himself and the route of the race. Depending on his/her training and preparation, he/she must be able to come up with a “race strategy” and be able to learn a lesson in every race.

8) Feedbacks and Critique to every race is a regular menu of this blog for the race organizers to improve and give the best service to every paying runner/participant in every road race. I guess, I am not the only one doing this.

My highest number of hits for a day was 1,078 with a daily average hits of 600-800 and monthly increase of readership from 5,000 to 6,000 since January of this year. I had the highest number of hits during the month of August when I ran the San Francisco Marathon and Bulldog 50K Ultra Trail Run in Calabasas, California.

Let me thank the following for making this blog as a “living organism” that keeps on growing and reaching up to other runners around the world:

1) To my son, John, who advised me to continue with this blog when I decided to stop this “monster” after finishing my first ultramarathon trail run in California. To my daughter, Jovelle, who taught me how to make my blog appear on top of the Google page when someone “googles” the words “runner + Philippines” during the early part of this year.

2) To The Bull Runner who is leading the way for runners to blog and who happens to be the number one referral to this blog. Takbo.ph is also becoming an active platform for this blog’s exposure. Thanks, Jinoe!

3) To the “Hardcore Group” who are constant and regular visitors/”commentors” of this blog—MarkFB; The Loony Runner; High Altitude; Aldz; JayR; Lester; Bugobugo85; Cecil/Miraclecello; Prometheus Cometh; Mark & Tiffin; Nolan; JunC; RunRio; Olvis; SF Runner; Quicksilver; Banana Running; Passion Runner; Jinoe; Doc Doray; My Iron Shoes; Levyang; RunDMoon; RunMD; Running DATCOM; PinoyUltraRunners; BroJ; JSyRunning; The Fit Mommy; Taki; Nora; The MeekRunner; The ForeignRunner; Rayyoshi; IbanRunner; Ben Gaetos; Ben Chan; Running Shield; Lakay Felipe; Omar; Ibetlacbay; Mukhang Guilty; Constantine; Daniel; Marga; Amado; and the rest of the “runner-bloggers”.

4) To all the readers and runners/joggers reading this blog. I hope you are learning a lot from my posts and improving your finish time every time you join a road race.

5) To those who have donated their slightly used running shoes to support the “Project Donate A Shoe”.

I will end this post from what Banana Running had described about me. Yes, I really “dream big”…I dream that we should be physically active and let ourselves be “examples” to our children and influence others to be physically active and healthy through jogging/running; I dream also to discover “raw talents” who could be trained, supported and be qualified to the National Pool of Runners & eventually produce qualifiers for the Olympic Games; and finally, I dream to help others who are in need through running.

Guys, I could not do this alone if I want these “dreams” to become reality. I need your support.

Keep on reading this blog and enjoy running. Onward to my 2nd year of blogging!

153 Days: Monday Evening Run & Apology

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Runners' Training, Running3 Comments

6:20 PM 03 November 2008 @ The ULTRA Oval Track

It was dark already when I reached the premises of ULTRA but the whole oval track was bright because of the powerful lights that surround the oval. Coach Rio talked to me as I approached his group of runners. He asked me what is the costume I am planning to wear for the next Halloween Run next year. I immediately replied to him, “I am planning to wear the Batman suit next year!” and congratulated him for winning the Best Costume Award in last Friday’s Halloween Run. Later on during our conversation, I told him about the complaint of one of my runners with Team Bald Runner where one of the race sponsors gave expired Gift Certificates as gift awards to the winners. Coach Rio promised me to contact the race organizer and made sure that the problem will be settled as soon as possible. Continue reading “153 Days: Monday Evening Run & Apology” →

Last Week’s Recap (27 Oct-02 Nov ’08)

On By kingofpotsIn Jogging, Runners' Training, RunningLeave a comment

I ran for 5 days within the week and made Thursday and Saturday as my rest days. I was able to cover a total distance of 103.60 kilometers or 64.75 miles. Except for my “runabout” along the roads of Metro Manila, at least 2/3 of my mileage or total distance was done at the oval track. I’ve done two sessions of running at least 50 laps at the oval track for this week.

I was able to increase the number of kilometers I’ve covered from an average of 80 kms per week to the 100-km total per week without any problems.

Attention: To All Race Sponsors

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Races, Running6 Comments

One of the runners of Team Bald Runner brought this situation to my attention.

Maricel Maquilan, the winner in the Women’s Overall Category in last Friday’s “1st Shake, Rattle & Run” (Halloween 5K Race) was awarded Gift Certificates worth P2,000 from a foot sandal company called “RIDER”. The gift certificates were given to her during the awarding ceremony at 9:00 PM of 31 October 2008, the day of the event. Continue reading “Attention: To All Race Sponsors” →

154 Days: Sunday’s Run (“Runabout” #3)

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Runners' Training, RunningLeave a comment

I did my 3rd “runabout” in Metro Manila yesterday morning and I was able to cover a distance of exactly 32 kilometers (20 miles) with a time of 3:40:27 hours and an average pace of 7:00 mins/km. I had my “pit stop” at the Canteen at Hole # 1 Tee Mound of the Philippine Army Golf Course along Bayani Road. I spent P90.00 for two bottles of Gatorade; two boiled bananas; and one hard-boiled egg. Bought and drank two bottles of Propel at the Mini-Stop Store near Paul Calvin’s Deli Resto for P40.00 while running around The Fort area.

I saw a lot of runners along the way—Fort Striders were at the BHS area; Roselle from Happy Feet at Lawton Avenue approaching Essensa; and a couple of runners at Bayani Road near the Philippine Army Gym. I know these runners are preparing for next Sunday’s VSO Run and for the New Balance Road Races on the middle of this month. As for me, I had my easy long run in preparation for the Milo Marathon Finals on the 30th of this month. Continue reading “154 Days: Sunday’s Run (“Runabout” #3)” →