As a “beginner” in running, one should follow what I call as “30-minute” rule. For that matter, those who would like to engage in any endurance sports as “beginners” should follow what I term as the “30-minute” rule. What should be the emphasis in training is the observance to complete 30 minutes doing your workout, whether it is walking, jogging, running, cycling, swimming, biking/cycling, rowing and/or any sports that involve aerobic capability of the body.
Make one’s training to be as “time-based” instead of trying to find out or complete a certain distance. Knowing the distance you have covered after 30 minutes will come later as you progress and be comfortable doing this “time-based” workout. There is no need to be excited on how far you have covered for the period as there will be time to consider the distance and time in your daily training journal.
The “30-minute” workout does not include the warm-up, stretching, and “cool-down” exercises. There is no particular pace during the “30-minute” workout as you do your activity by taking it easy and comfortable.
Your progress in your selected sports will have a faster result if you do this “rule” everyday! Make this rule as part of your daily activities and of course, you need a lot of discipline to do this.
Maybe in 2-3 weeks, you will be surprised that you can already cover the following distances with the corresponding activity:
Walking—1.5 to 2 Kilometers
Jogging—3 Kilometers
Easy Run—3.5 to 4 Kilometers
Cycling—10 Kilometers
Swimming—400-500 meters
Remember, 30 minutes of your time on a daily basis to engage in any aerobic activity is very easy. Think DISCIPLINE!
Depending on your goals why you want to engage in running, the first requisite to be successful in running is to have a discipline.
It is an attitude that plays within the confines of what is in between one’s ears! It’s all in your brain!
Whether you are following a training program to finish a certain distance of a road race or not, discipline plays the greatest role in one’s ability to accomplish and attain such objective.
How does anybody develop a discipline in running? Start with your goal. Make a “personal contract” to this goal. Visit your family doctor to find out if you are healthy to do some endurance activity that affects the functioning of your heart, lungs and other parts of your body. If you have the “go” signal from your doctor, go out from your “comfort zone” and take those “baby steps” towards running.
Make sure to allocate at least 30 minutes out of the 24 hours in a day to keep your body moving. That is only 2% of the whole day and it is a “piece of cake” and a very short time spent as compared from one’s time reading your friends’ status on Facebook. You can start by walking at a leisurely pace in any place until you are comfortable in including short jogs within the span of 30 minutes. If this ritual is done everyday, your body will be able to adapt and you should be able to maintain the momentum.
It is not important on how far you can walk/run in 30 minutes, what is most important is your attitude to go out and have those 30 minutes spent on moving your legs & feet on the ground.
Everyone should be able to include walking/running in one’s activity on a daily basis and if you can do this, it is a very good example on the application of discipline.
Remember, discipline is the key and the most important aspect in any kind of endeavor, sports, and, of course, to running.
The BDM 160 5-Man Relay Race which is supposed to take place as a replacement for the past BDM “Test Runs” is hereby CANCELLED. This event is supposed to be conducted on December 3-4, 2011 which exclusively open to registered runners for the 2012 BDM Races. Due to requests from new runners of the 2012 BDM 160 and 102 races, I have decided to bring back those yearly “test runs” for recon and adaptation purposes.
Each “test run” will cover a distance of 50 kilometers. Runners have the option to bring their support crew and support vehicle. If a runner has not yet finalized his/her support system, I will allow runners to be self-supported provided they bring along their respective hydration system. Self-supported runners are encouraged to bring some cash as they could easily buy their needs on convenience stores along the route. As in the past, each runner will be provided with Race Bib and their respective finish time will be officially registered/recorded. The registration fee for each runner is Five Hundred Pesos (P 500.00) which will defray the cost in the coordination on matters pertaining to security and medical/ambulance assistance.
Every “test run” has its objective of knowing the course and trying to adapt one’s body to the conditions of the environment. Each “test run” will be conducted on the very same time that participants would run each segment of the course during the actual race. Having said that, the first “test run” from Km Post #00 to Km Post 50 will be done on night time (from 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM the following day); the second “test run” from Km Post #50 to Km Post 102 will be done from 7:00 AM up to 4:00 PM. And the last “test run” from Km Post #102 to the Finish Line in Capas National Shrine (for BDM 160 runners) will be done from 5:00 PM up to 2:00 AM the following day. Each of these “test runs” will have a cut-off time of NINE HOURS (9 hours).
Since most of the 2012 BDM 160 runners are already “veterans” (except for a few runners), the last “test run” will not be a mandatory one. I urge the new ones on this course to find time to recon the place (last 58K) on their own and ask the finishers last year to guide them or provide extra instructions on the directions.
The Schedule for the “Test Runs” will be the following:
1st Test Run (Km #00-Km #50)—January 14, 2012
2nd Test Run (Km #50-Km #102)—February 11, 2012
By the way, these “test runs” will be open to everybody. If you are not registered for the 2012 BDM Races, you can join and make it as your training run. However, make sure that you are officially registered for the “test run”. We will not allow “bandits” on these “test runs”.
Registration to these “test runs” will be at the “A Runners Circle Store” Manila. However, we will allow “On Site” Registration, provided you are at the Starting Area at least One Hour before the Start Time. If you intend to register on site, please make your slot/s reserved by sending me a message at my e-mail address—jovie75@hotmail.com or send me a Private Message/post a message on my Wall at Facebook. Registration at ARC Store starts on January 2, 2012.
My interest in watching the movie, “The Way”, came from the pilgrimage-experience of Father Picx Picardal which he blogged on a regularl basis last year while walking & jogging (in barefoot and sandals) along the El Camino De Santiago (The Way of St James) from the French border town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to the city of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The route covers a distance of more than 800 kilometers along the Pyrenees Mountains. In 35 days, he reached his destination. His journal/diary about his pilgrimage is clearly explained & described in his blog.
It was in April this year that I was able to discover in the Internet that there is movie produced/filmed about the El Camino De Santiago by Emilio Estevez with his father, Martin Sheen as the lead actor. My research would lead me to more advertisements and websites about the movie with no definite date yet when the movie will be released in the local theaters. Finally, on the first week of October, the movie, “The Way”, started to be shown in selected theaters in the United States.
Movie: "The Way"
I watched the movie on its third week of showing and I considered it as one of the best drama movies I’ve seen in the past 20 years. I don’t need to tell the synopsis of the movie and it is up for my readers to watch the movie when the time it will be released in the local theaters in the Philippines. If you have watched it already on DVD, then it is something that it should be a part of your collection of movies.
Now you ask me, why do I have to feature it in my blog? I was inspired by the movie and the diary of Father Picx Picardal that I’ve placed it in my “Bucket List”. This could be my greatest “adventure run” throughout my entire life.
With The Final Movie Poster In Theaters
It’s time to meet Father Picx Picardal in person to discuss on the details of my plan.
In a 6-hour “runabout” in Los Angeles, I was able to discover that the first Olympic Gold Medalist in both platform and sprinboard diving events in one Olympic Games is a Filipina, whose father is a Filipino and mother from England, born in San Francisco, California on December 31, 1924. She was almost 24 years old when she won the two Gold Medals in the 1948 London Olympic Games. Her name is Victoria Manalo Draves and she is 5′ 1″ in height. She died last year at the age of 85 due to pancreatic cancer and I could not remember if her death was featured in the local newspapers.
Victoria Manalo Draves With Samie Lee (South Korean-American) (From Google Images)
I discovered her name written on a big mural inside a Public Park along Beverly Boulevard & Union Street in Los Angeles, California. It led me to research about her on the Internet.
A Public Park With A Mural Depicting the History of Filipinos In AmericaThe Lady With The Gold Medal
The following links have lots of information about her life, training, and inspiration she shared as one of the public parks in San Franciso, California was named after her.
Technically, her feat was not considered as part of the Philippine Sports Annals as she represented the USA Team, However, for having her roots and blood as a Filipina, it would inspire us to develop our potentials in water sports, most especially to diving. It is a shame on our part that this Filipina Lady is not fully well-known in our country. Correct me if I am wrong.
Do we have a separate sports federation for diving? I guess, it could be a part and under the PASA. PASA? Did it deliver for Gold harvest in the 26th SEA Games?
It has been awhile that I posted a shoe review for the past months. So, this new pair of shoes that hit the market early this year is making a lot of “noise” in the Internet among ultra trail runners. This is the reason why I was able to know beforehand about the existence of this “weird-looking” running shoes.
HOKA ONE ONE Bondi B
Two of the top US ultra trail runners, Dave Mackey and Karl Meltzer, had been using this kind of shoes in their runs and races as they are the primary and top endorsers of this shoes even if these shoes were invented and conceptualized by two French ultrarunners. These guys had been winning their races using these shoes. I’ve seen with my own eyes how Dave Mackey ran and glided on those shoes during this year’s MIWOK 100K Trail Run in Marin Headlands which he won easily from other top US ultra runners. Looking at Dave Mackey (with a height of more than 6 feet), the Hoka One One looks like an ordinary trail shoes and it is not noticeable as a clunky & thick soled shoes.
My observation brought an interest to have one of this pair of shoes just to find out what is special in them as each of them carry a higher price as compared with other trail shoes. The initial price was $ 179+ which has almost the same level price with the ASICS’ top end Gel-Kinsei series. However, the price has now gone down to $ 159+ as per my latest research in the Internet.
Last June, a simple question to the ARC Los Angeles owner, Joe Matias, if their store carry such shoes led me to have a new pair of Hoka One One Bondi B. He even posted on Facebook that the Bald Runner is ready to experience a “Time To Fly” with the new pair of shoes with the appropriate pictures. Thanks, Joe!
First thing that I’ve observed when I tried to wear them was that their sizing is one-half size smaller. Which means that if I am size 9 1/2 in my regualr running shoes, I should have ordered size 10 for the Hoka One One. I tried to compensate this little issue by using thinner running socks. Second, I found the shoe string to be bulky as it uses those stiff round-type shoe laces which tend to put more pressure on the top of my feet when I tie my shoes tightly. I changed the shoe laces with those flat and lighter shoe laces and I observed a great improvement on the comfortability of the shoes.
For one month, I’ve used them everyday in my runs along the paved streets and they are very soft to the feet because of the thick and spongy sole. It was very comfortable to run with as I was recovering from my knee injury. The pain on my left knee would go away as soon as I ran with them. The spongy and bouncy feeling as my feet hit the ground is totally different from using my other running shoes.
I tried to use them in my trail runs and the shoes forced me to run at a faster speed and pace on the downhill which I was trying to avoid and minimize because I was still recovering from my knee injury. If only I was not being safety and conservative conscious on my trail workouts, I could have experienced the full potentials of this shoes in my downhill runs which most of the users have liked about using them.
However, I would reveal that the thick sole gave some problems with the way I run. Since I am a “shuffler” who could barely lift my knees during my “push-off” at a higher level, my tendency is to trip with the shoes on the ground. It does not happen all the time but there are times that my rythym would be disturbed. Sometimes, my leading shoes would hit the other one when my legs are showing that they are getting tired and weary.
Shoes More Noticeable With Average-Height Runners
I used them during my WC 200 run lately and they were nice shoes to start with my daily runs but after 30+ kilometers, I have to use the thinner-soled shoes for faster leg turn-overs. I am not saying that these shoes are not light, they are lighter than the ASICS Gel-Kayano & Kinsei but they simply don’t suit to my style of running on paved roads.
My Hoka One One, for the meantime, is being used as my recovery workout shoes and it is still waiting to be used in an ultra trail run or in a road race.
Now, if you ask me if I am recommending this one for you. Of course! Get one pair of this shoe and experience what is like to wear a different one and be a standout from the rest. Just take note of the shoe sizing and the price. I really don’t know yet if they are available in the local running stores. However, I’ll give you a tip. Ask Raul, Perkins, and Mario of ARC Manila if you can have it ordered from Joe Matias of ARC Los Angeles. I know Joe will give you a nice deal on these shoes.
I was surprised when Jael Wenceslao, one of the 1st BDM 160 Finishers, posted a picture on Facebook a portion of one of the pages of the latest edition of the Runners World Magazine Philippine Edition. Since I have not seen the actual page or have with me a copy of the said magazine, my information was based from the status posted by Jael.
BDM Ultramarathon: Dream Race
It appears that a survey was conducted by the Magazine to Pinoy Runners and the result showed that the BDM Ultramarathon ranked with the two most prestigious Marathon Races in the World—Boston & New York City Marathon.
I was overwhelmed with joy and at the same time worried that my vision to make this race as the “Comrades Ultra Marathon” in Asia is coming to reality at a faster pace as compared from my personal conservative expectations. I could not imagine how the race would look like when you have at least 500 runners or more in it. As of now, the race takes its form by increment and maintains to be a road race by invitation only.
As an expression of gratitude and a way of giving back to the community, most especially to all the endurance athletes in the country, I am offering FREE ENTRY to all PINOY FINISHERS of the 2011 KONA IRONMAN to the 2012 Edition of the BDM 102K. In addition, PINOY FINISHERS in the 2011 TNF Ultra Marathon Mont Blanc 100-Mile Run; ultra runners former PNP Director Samuel Tucay (Ret.), Fr. Robert Reyes, Cesar Guarin, Joy Roxas, and Fr Picx Picardal will be invited also for free entry in the said event.
If you think you are considered as one of the TOP 5 Pinoy Runner-Bloggers, please contact me as I might as well give you a FREE ENTRY to the 2012 BDM 102K which will be held on March 3-4, 2012.
Thanks for your support. Let us make BDM Races known throughout the world!
Bataan Death March (BDM) is in the Philippines and not in any other country!
September 22, 2011: From Botolan to Santa Cruz, Zambales
After 4.5 hours of sleep at the Circles Inn in Botolan, Zambales, I had my shower and ready for the second day of my run. My team and I went to the commercial center of Iba, Zambales and chose Mang Inasal for our brunch.
One for the customers talked to me (seeing my ARC Los Angeles shirt) and she is apparently a United States’ resident who was born in Iba, Zambales and is the owner of one of the Beach Resorts which is situated at least 2-3 kilometers north of the Poblacion. After our brunch, we went back to the place where I stopped at the vicinity of Poblacion Botolan, Zambales. After some preparation for my hydration and food, I finally started my run at 11:00 AM and the weather was cloudy with a 100% chance of rains later in the day.
It Rained On My First 5K For The Day
After covering a distance of 6 kilometers, I was already at the center of Iba, Zambales, the capital town of the province. There was a portion where there is one way street for vehicles going to the north as well as those going to the opposite direction. I took the road where vehicles going to the North would usually take. It was uneventful as I was able to cover another 3-4 kilometers away from the town.
Slept For 1 1/2 Hours After Taking In Some Food
I really didn’t know what hit me as it started to rain/drizzle and started to feel weak. I took a rest in one of the waiting sheds along the road and asked my crew to serve me some solid foods and Ensure Drinks. However, after drinking the Ensure Drinks, I felt sleepy and just laid down on my back.
I woke up after 1 ½ hours and started to eat some solid foods. Even it was noisy due to the sounds of the passing tricycles, I was able to have the much-desired rest. I immediately prepared myself to continue my run. I was aware that from this place I will have to encounter some hilly portions along the route.
The plan for the day was to cover as much as many kilometers for the day until the night and the following morning.
Looking Fresh After The Sleep
It was already at 5:00 PM when I was approaching the next town, Palauig, most especially near the Headquarters of the 24th
Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army. Having arranged beforehand about my run through their Area of Responsibility, I knew that the Battalion Commander will provide me with security personnel in civilian attire along the route. This part of the route was mountainous and for security reasons, there is a need to be cautious about the place.
Approaching The 24th IB Headquarters In Palauig, Zambales
After passing the highest peak in the said town, I had another “pit stop” before running through the night. I had to choose to stop infront of the Iglesia Ni Kristo churches along the way because it is well-lighted and the personnel/guards on their gates were very accommodating. We plugged on their electric outlets for the needed heating of our water in our electric thermos. The INK Church and its people in Palauig, Zambales were great!
On The Road Towards Masinloc, Zambales
At first, there were two motorcycle-riding intelligence personnel of the Philippine Army who gave me the security along the way through the night who would alternately switched from one position to another—one is pre-positioned at least one kilometer ahead and one is at least on my back at a seeing distance. These guys pretended to be like locals and they tried to be discrete on their locations and actions. It was fine with me as long as I have somebody to secure my movement during the night.
At midnight, these two personnel were changed with two personnel with a single motorcycle and they did what they were tasked. After an hour of running, I asked them to join me in my “pit stop” and shared my food (coffee and sandwich) to them. Conversations with them on my “pit stops” gave me more information about the place and its people.
"Pit Stop" Infront of the Iglesia Ni Kristo's Church In Masinloc, Zambales
The mountains and hills of Palauig and Masinloc of Zambales were not noticed as I was running in the dark but I had to “power walk” on those inclines and jog/run on the descending portions of the route. These places are a “must” for cyclists to train and see the beauty of the province. The town of Candelaria was uneventful as the route started to level off until I reached the town of Santa Cruz, Zambales.
At 5:30 AM on the following day, I reached the Poblacion of Santa Cruz, Zambales, the last town of the province and decided to have a rest/break. I was able to run a distance of 66+ kilometers on my second day. For the two days that I’ve been running, I was able to cover a distance of 141 kilometers.
Not being able to look for a decent place to stay within the town, I had to drive all the way to Alaminos, Pangasinan, 60 kilometers away, for the much-needed rest.
Bald Runner 
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