Month: August 2020

Hiking With A Weighted Backpack

On By kingofpotsIn Fitness, Health, Hiking, Insights, Jogging, Lifestyle, Lockdown Challenge, Pictures, Places to Run, Practice Runs, Running, Running Diary, Trail Running1 Comment

One of the training tips that my Coach had given me when I complained about my knee pains as a result of my long runs in the mountains is for me to try hiking into the mountains instead of doing my easy long runs there. However, he told me that I should carry a weighted backpack with me starting with 10-15 pounds for my first try or experience in hiking to the mountains. This workout of hiking with a weighted backpack should be done once a week.

This advice or tip was given to me way back last December 2019. It was good that I bought a North Face backpack which is made with thick material and does not have so many pockets or dividers inside it. I would use 2-liter bottles filled with water as the weight I would carry inside my backpack. Since then, I have been hiking with a weighted backpack once a week in going to the mountains for a hike of 3-4 hours and steadily progressed on making my backpack weight up to 25 pounds. Despite the fact that I would be enticed to run the downhills, I forced myself to be patient and slow on the downhills. On those hikes with weighted backpack for the past weeks and months, it gave me more strength on my legs and thus, I was able to finish my ultra trail races (local and international) since then up to the time Covid-19 Lockdown was imposed.

During the Lockdown period (past 4 months), I have been doing my daily runs in my Backyard Loop and I would be doing my hiking with a weighted backpack once a week. After I rested for one week of no running, I resumed my hiking with a weighted backpack yesterday with a reduced weight of 20 pounds. However, I did it in my Backyard Loop. After one mile, I started to perspire and after one hour, I was able to hike a distance of 3 miles.

Hiking With A Weighted Backpack

It was good to be back hiking with my weighted backpack again and I am eager to go back to the mountain trails in the coming days and weeks.

Thank you for reading!

 

Running Diary: August 11 & 12, 2020

On By kingofpotsIn Fitness, Health, Insights, Jogging, Lifestyle, Practice Runs, Running, Running Diary, Trail RunningLeave a comment

Last Tuesday, I was able to run in 61 minutes (1:01 hours) covering a distance of 4 miles or 6.4 kilometers in my Backyard Loop. I started with an easy pace of 16-17 minutes per mile until I was able to increase it to 12-13 minutes per mile. I usually run one loop in my Backyard for 5:30 minutes on an easy pace but I could also finish it in 4:15 minutes in my tempo runs.

I still had my Army Physical Fitness Challenge later in the day which I passed, doing the exercises on the minimum/passing scores of 20 push-ups; 30 sit-ups; and 20-minute 2-mile run along the paved road in front of my compound. Later in the evening, I did my 2-minute forward plank challenge and 100 push-ups challenge.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I did a one-hour hike in my Backyard Loop carrying a backpack weighing 20 pounds of water which were contained in six 2-liter bottles. I was able to cover a distance of 3 miles in one hour. Later in the day, I was able to do my daily “Challenges”.

On the Covid-19 situation in the Philippines, there are now 143,749 total of confirmed cases where 4,444 cases were reported for the day. The following picture shows the latest update from the Department of Health:

Total Tally Of Covid-19 Cases In The Philippines (August 12, 2020)

The weather had improved for the past two days but it is still cloudy and overcast. The ground condition of the trail in my Backyard Loop has become softer due to the past rains but I am glad that the composition of the soil is more sandy than being a muddy one. My trail shoes had been appropriate with this kind of ground condition. Every step gave me more comfort to my old knees and joints.

Thank you for reading and have a good day!

Running Diary: August 10, 2020

On By kingofpotsIn Gear Review, Health, Insights, Jogging, Lifestyle, Running, Running DiaryLeave a comment

Today is Monday and it is supposed to be my Rest Day in Running but since I was not able to run yesterday because of the strong rains brought about by Typhoon “Enteng”, I did a 4-mile run in my Backyard Loop which took me almost 1 hour and 30 minutes. I started with the first mile by walking and slowly started to jog at the start of my second mile. Every time I finish a mile, I would change the direction of my run along the loop.

After finishing the run in 1.5 hours, I immediately did my stretching exercises. I usually do four (4) stretching exercises targeting my quadriceps, hamstrings, calf muscles, and my groin muscles. I do each stretching exercises at 3 minutes for each leg.

No Army Physical Fitness Test Challenge for today. However, I still did my Daily 2-Minute Forward Plank Challenge and 100 Push-Ups Challenge. It was my 3rd day for the Forward Plank and 9th day for the Push-Ups.

I uploaded my latest video on my You Tube Channel and I am still learning on how to edit my videos. Hopefully, I will be able to learn more about video making from the other You Tubers. Using my iPhone and my old Panasonic Lumix for the meantime is just temporary. You can watch my video (in Filipino dialect) here.

Thank you for watching and reading this blog.

Running Diary: August 9, 2020

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

Today is Sunday and it had been raining the whole day and night in my Playground. I just found out that there is a Typhoon on the west side of the island of Luzon where more rains are expected for the next coming days. I did not run today.

Instead, I have been reading the news through the Internet and these were the significant information.

  • Today is the 75th anniversary of the Bombing of Nagasaki, Japan where an estimate of 74,000 people died in the said dropping of the second Atomic Bomb which ended the World War II after Japan surrendered to the Allies unconditionally on August 14, 1945. The nuclear radiation brought about by the explosion of the bomb resulted to more thousands of deaths in the weeks, months, and years to come.
  • Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,109 additional Covid-19 cases making the total cases count to 129,913. Metro Manila accounted for the most new cases with 1,700 cases. This increase in cases was made despite the imposition of MECQ since August 3, 2020.
  • PhilHealth is still in the NEWS about its alleged corruption of funds as revealed during the Senate Investigation.
  • Run Rabbit Run 100-Mile Endurance Race is going to happen this coming September in Steamboat, Colorado. Most of the ultra elite runners in the US are registered in this race due to the fact that it has cash prizes to the podium finishers. I think a total amount of $17,000 of cash prize is ready for them.
  • Courtney Dauwalter, 2019 Female UTMB Champion, is at Mile 223 of the northbound Colorado Trail trying to break the FKT in the said trail. She has still 258 miles for her to complete the trail. She is in her 4th day and going into her 5th day. She is way ahead of the course record of 8 days.

I am supposed to be on my 15th day of my Army Physical Fitness Test but I was not able to do my 2-Mile Run because of the rain. However, I did my push-ups and sit-ups with passing scores.

In addition to this Challenge, I have been doing two Challenges: 100-Push-Ups Every Day Challenge and 2-Minute Forward Plank Every Day Challenge. These two Challenges will be discussed in detail in my next posts in this blog. These Challenges keep me busy while I am watching my favorite Netflix movies.

This is all for now and thank you for reading.

 

Running Diary: August 8, 2020/2nd MAF Test

On By kingofpotsIn Fitness, Health, Insights, Jogging, Lifestyle, Running, Trail RunningLeave a comment

I became lazy for the past days and I just stopped running since last July 30 and that makes 9 days of no running. Three days ago, I came up with a video on my You Tube Channel and the topic “What Happens To You After One Week Of No Running?”. Aside from my personal observations and feelings, I posted a survey question on Facebook about the same question. I got a lot of comments/answers from my friends and from the Public and those comments are mentioned in the said video/episode.

Starting today, I resumed my running and I decided to post my running workout for the day in my blog. This will be a daily routine for me in this blog. Actually, three days ago, I decided to have a run in my Backyard Loop to conduct my 2nd MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) Test for the month of July. However, on my 3rd mile, my Suunto Watch HR Monitor just stopped and stuck to 113 BPM as average and it could no longer go down even if I was already walking. In a few minutes, I found out that the HR Monitor Belt has no longer have a signal to my Watch. I just stopped and I was able to run and hike for 4 miles.

Today, I did a one mile easy jog as my warm-up with the thought that I am going to do my 2nd MAF Test. My HR Monitor was working and I started with 85 bpm and it registered 112 bpm as soon as I finished my warm-up of one mile. Since I have reached my lowest HR within my range of 112-122 bpm, I decided to start my MAF Test. After my first mile, my HR registered at 121 bpm with a time of 14:25 minutes. I rested for 30 seconds by walking and then I started my 2nd mile. I have slowed at the middle of the mile when my watch registered at 122 bpm and tried to maintain it until I finished the 2nd mile in 16:30 minutes. I rested again for 30 seconds before I started my 3rd mile. When I saw my bpm at 121, I started my 3rd mile and had my pace a little faster. I was able to maintain my average bpm at 122 until I finished my 3rd mile in 14:55 minutes. Having confident of my bpm at 122, I started my 4th mile after resting for 30 seconds. After finishing 2 loops of my Backyard Loop which is equivalent to 0.60 miles, my HR registered at 122 and I was on a “auto-mode” in my run. For the last loop, I was running through perceived effort and I was confident that I was not going more than my 122 BPM. When I finished my 4th mile, I saw my watch registered a time of 12:39 minutes and I was surprised that my time was so fast. But when I looked at my Average BPM, I saw that my HR registered at 123 bmp. I might have run at a faster pace when I was thinking that I was running easy on my perceived effort.

Because of this, I rested for one minute instead of 30 seconds just to be sure my HR will go down at 122 bpm. My rest for 1 minute brought down my average bpm to 122 and I started my 5th and last mile. My 5th mile registered with a time of 15:05 minutes. I just walked for another 300 meters before I did my stretching exercises. In summary, I was able to run a distance of 6.2 miles or 10 kilometers for 1:40+hours.

The rolling is the summary of my 2nd MAF Test (July 2020)

1st Mile—-14:25 minutes                  4th Mile—-12:39 minutes

2nd Mile—16:30 minutes                  5th Mile—-15:05 minutes

3rd Mile—-14:55 minutes

Tomorrow, we will find out if I have improved or not from my 1st MAF Test as we will be able to compare it and come up with an assessment. For the meantime, this is the video that I have posted on my You Tube Channel on what happens when you rest for one week with NO Running. Thanks for watching and please subscribe for more videos on running.