Category: Running

1st Corporate Running Clinic

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Pictures, Running1 Comment

 The idea of conducting a Running Clinic was conceptualized during a brief visit of the Coaches of Team Bald Runner and myself at the office of the Reinier Pacific last month. Amado Castro, Jr, the President of the Company who is a runner and race walker, requested us to visit his office for final “tips” and suggestions for his participation to a 12-Hour Race Walk Competition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was in this meeting that Mr Castro suggested the idea of conducting a Running Clinic to all of his staff and personnel. Due to the holiday season, the running clinic was finally set on the afternoon of January 8, 2009.

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So, this plan was realized yesterday afternoon at the training room of Reinier Pacific. The running clinic started at 2:00 PM with a brief introduction from Mr Castro as to the background and purpose of the said running clinic. The lecture was divided into two parts.  I presented a lecture on the WHY? part of running while the two coaches of Team Bald Runner, Major Ferdie Espejo Jr and Coach Saturnino Salazar, presented a lecture on the HOW? part of running with the proper training aids. 

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About 30 staff and personnel of the company attended the running clinic. The running clinic lasted for about 3 hours to include the time for open forum and additional information about running. The second part of the running clinic will be the ACTUAL RUNNING demonstration and practical exercises at the ULTRA Oval Track on Thursday next week. The second part of the clinic will consist of conducting proper warm-up and stretching exercises before and after the run; and the running proper.

The overall objective of this running clinic is to offer to everybody to engage in physical activity and exercise, through running/jogging/walking in order for the company to be more productive by having a healthy mind and body among its personnel. On the side of the Team Bald Runner, it is our advocacy to encourage more people to embrace a healthy lifestyle through walking/jogging and ultimately to running and be competitive to oneself. 

Ladies and gentlemen, this running clinic is FREE! If you are a part of a group or a community intending to form a running club, we can schedule a 2-part running clinic (2-3 hours of lecture and another 2 hours actual demonstration on the oval or on the ground). If you are interested, just leave a comment to this post or send an e-mail to jovie75@hotmail.com.

Note: Visit www.reinier6666.blogspot.com for a related story/post.

Athletics Hall of Fame, Museum & Library

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Running3 Comments

While running alone at the Rizal High School Oval Track during the Holidays, I’ve been wondering if there is such thing as an Athletics Hall of Fame, Museum & Library in the Philippines. When I visited the office of PATAFA at the Rizal Stadium last year, I was sad to see the framed pictures of Lydia de Vega and Elma Muros winning in their respective athletic events placed on the walls of the said office without any semblance of orderliness and they are showing signs of fading. I thought that there should be an appropriate place for such memorabilias that show our history in Athletics and there should be a “system” to honor these athletes who had given honor & pride to the country in international competitions. I wonder if the other Sports Federations have also such facility where they can showcase their history and honor their top athletes in the past and in the present. Such an idea and observation had given me another project/program for this blog to dwell into.

Initially, I will be getting information on our past athletes on Athletics from the readers and from other runners who had knowledge on the history of Athletics to include road racing in the country.

If you have any information, please send them to my e-mail  address: jovie75@hotmail.com. Thanks for your support.

“Sports Is A Great Unifying Factor”

On By kingofpotsIn Running4 Comments

If you don’t know where you have seen this statement in a big poster or big board, then you are not observant of what is around you when you are running. Have you seen this board? Where?

Let me go back again to the argument of my son why it is so important for the Philippines to have its First Olympic Gold Medal even if we have a Manny Pacquiao who is the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, moreso, after defeating the Olympic Gold Medalist Oscar De La Hoya. My son said that the Philippines does not need to win an Olympic Gold Medal in order for us to be known to the world, to promote our national pride, and remove the notion that we are the “goat” or “tail” among the ASEAN countries with regards to sports. The country must be proud that we have the best boxer in the world, the best billiard players in the world; and the best bowler in the world in four decades. I just said to my son that the pinnacle of a country’s sports program and ultimate “proof of success” is the Olympics Gold Medal or any medal from the Olympic Games won by a Filipino athlete.

On our quest to our first Olympic Gold Medal, do you think we are united towards this goal? My answer is NO. We may be united in praying to the Lord before our contingent competed in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and wishing them their best and even promising monetary rewards for every medal that our athletes would win…but we ended nothing. Prayers alone do not win battles. Now, here comes the sad part. Nobody is accepting responsibility for our failure to attain what the members of the official delegation had promised to the public. And nobody had accounted for the expenses they had incurred in the preparation and participation of the Philippine delegation to the 2008 Beijing Olympic.

For the past days, I’ve been reading news releases from the Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Sports Commission, and the different Sports Federation. There had been much “funfare” in the supposed election of new set of officers in the POC but in the end, the same officers before the 2008 Beijing Olympics were elected. These newly-elected officers of the POC promised reforms and better preparation for the 2012 London Olympics. Well, I don’t think so! What they accomplished for the past Olympic Games speaks what we expect from them for the next four years.

The Philippine Sports Commission, which is the government body supposed to finance and support the different Sports Federations, immediately conducted a conference-seminar among the stakeholders of sports in the country but it was not well-attended and represented by the different Sports Federations entire the country. However, right from the start of the seminar, all the participants knew already the problem in Philippine Sports—lack of unity of effort and financial support. The PSC is supposed to finance the different Sports Federations’ coaches, athletes, and their international exposure to include personal stipend and training expenses. The money is supposed to come from a certain percentage out of the income of PAGCOR and PCSO. But the problem is that, according to PSC, PAGCOR and PCSO are remiss in their duties to remit to the PSC the money intented for Sports.

The Sports Federations (PATAFA, PASA, TRAP, BAP and others) had their respective election of officers last December but the same officers had been elected for another four years. These are the same officials who went to 2008 Beijing Olympics whose athletes did not even reach to the semi-finals and have not yet cleared or accounted for the past financial support given by PSC to them for the past years. Some of these Sports Federations have also break-away groups that cause divisiveness among their coaches and players. Do you think these sports federations would be able to produce Olympic qualifiers for 2012? My answer again is NO!

Do you have any suggestions on how to unify us in the name of sports? Remember, Manny Pacquiao is only good for the next one to two years in boxing!!!  By that time, we still have two years to go before the 2012 London Olympic Games!

Urban Runners @ EDSA

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Pictures, Running9 Comments

This Sunday’s running adventure was simply as a result of a simple question  from one of the new members of Team Bald Runner asking us what is the exact distance/length of EDSA (Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue) which was known before in the 60s to 70s as Highway 54 from Roxas Boulevard to the famous Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan.  A decision had been nade to run along the length of the said main thoroughfare in order to find out the exact distance through Garmin watches.

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As I posted this running plan in this blog, some of the commenters gave their experiences and estimate of the distance as they had experienced running along the avenue in the past. Another commenter just simply told us what he read in the Wikipedia about EDSA stating that the avenue has a distance/length of 35 kilometers from the SM’s Mall of Asia Roundabout up to the Bonifacio Monumento in Caloocan City. As decided, we knew that EDSA starts at Roxas Boulevard and ends at the Bonifacio Monument. There is only one way to prove the length and that was to run along  the road.

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And so, at 6:00 AM last Sunday, 04 January 2009, Jonel aka Bugobugo, Lester, Kevin, Dess and I started our run at Roxas Boulevard after a brief stretching and coordinating instructions where to have our “pee & pit stops”. Rico was late and opted to meet us at the Shell Gas Station at the corner of EDSA and Gil Puyat Avenue, 5K distance from where we started.

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It appeared that Pasay City has the dirtiest streets and parts of EDSA with all those garbage & trashes scattered along the road and even “homeless” people sleeping along the sidewalk, not to mention those ambulant vendors and unsanitary eateries along the sidewalk. MMDA is not doing a good job at the Pasay City area.

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Makati City has the cleanest sidewalk along EDSA. I did not see any garbage or trash or “homeless” people sleeping along the road.  I was impressed to see that underneath the Magallanes Flyover has a lot of fountains and garden where people could sit and relax.

The only portion in Mandaluyon City where the sidewalk is dirty is the part at the Shaw Crossing commercial establishment area before we crossed towards the Starmall.

In Quezon City, it is only in Cubao Area where I observed the sidewalk to be dirty and full of ambulant vendors and lots of eateries.

We had our brief breakfast with pancakes at Jollibee Kamias where we had run a distance of 14 kilometers from the start. From the GMA-TV Building to Bonifacio Monumnt was just an easy 10K run for the urban runners.

In the end, we reached our destination, the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan City in 2 hours & 37 minutes. My GF 305 registered a distance of 23.94 kilometers. The last leg of our Sunday running adventure was riding the LRT back to where we started. Yes, for so many years that the LRT was operating since the early 80s, it was my first time to board and experience riding an LRT. Jonel and the rest of the Urban Runners, thanks for the experience!

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On hindsight, I have the following observations and assessment of the experience of running along EDSA and comparing my impressions how the cities where this avenue passes through administer their respective areas of influence or territory:

1) MMDA—EDSA is supposed to showcase the efficiency of MMDA but it falls short of its objective of showing an orderly, clean, safe, and beautiful Metro Manila. As an authority under the Office of the President that is mandated to administer the different cities in Metro Manila on matters about waste management, security, traffic control, street maintenance, pollution, and other, I could see that MMDA is not exercising its full authority to implement its mission/tasks. MMDA is only seen as efficient along the walls and tall fences of subdivisions of the “elites” along EDSA.

2) Pasay City—This city has never changed its impression to the public. This city still stinks!

3) Makati City—I am glad the City Government is paying back to its constituents in terms of good services and administration from the taxes it gets from the rich residents and corporations located in the said city.

4) Mandaluyong City—Except for the commercial establishments at the Shaw Crossing area, Mandaluyong City is clean and orderly.

5) Quezon City—Cubao Sidewalk is the only eye sore along EDSA.

6) Caloocan City—Central Market is the only place I could see along EDSA that is dirty and where parking of vehicles along the market is not properly supervised by traffic enforcers.

7)  I could see that anybody could run or walk along EDSA by using the sidewalk. If you want to save on your gas or money for your fare and let your body perspire, you can run/walk to any place in Metro Manila through EDSA. If you are from Quezon City and your work is at Makati City, you may consider trying to jog to and from your office. Pollution is not a problem as pollution and poor quality of the the air is entirely engulfed on the whole city of Metro Manila. Aboard a Huey Helicopter from Manila to Fort Magsaysay, Palayan City (Nueva Ecija) two years ago, I could see a thick “smog” that covers the whole of Manila to include parts of Bulacan & Laguna. Such “smog” disappears once our helicopter reached Mt Arayat in Pampanga. So, there is no place in Metro Manila where there is no pollution, not even inside your homes, offices and condo units! The said “smog” that I saw two years ago is still there and I think it became thicker and more widespread. 

The next question is: How far is the NLEX, from Caloocan to Dau Exit?

Note: Check for more pictures at www.bugobugo85.wordpress.com

Last Week’s Workout

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, RunningLeave a comment

29 Dec 08 (Monday)—Rest Day

6:54 AM 30 Dec 08 (Tuesday)—4-lap warm-up & one-hour run. Distance run at 12.21K

8:30 AM 31 Dec 08 (Wednesday)—4-lap warm-up; 10 X 400 with 1-minute recovery; and 2-lap cool down jog. Distance: 7.5K

4:54 PM 01 Jan 08 (Thursday)—4-lap warm-up; one-hour run; and 2-lap cool down jog. Distance: 14.4K

8:35 AM 02 Jan 08 (Friday)—Easy 30-minute run. Distance: 5:66K

9:08 AM 03 Jan 08 (Saturday)—Tempo Run. 1st 5K @ 5:15 mins/km; 2nd 5K @ 4:40 mins/km; & 3rd 5K @ 5:30 mins/km. Distance: 15K

6:00 AM 04 Jan 08 (Sunday)—EDSA  Easy Long Run. Dstance: 24K

Total Distance: 78.77 Kilometers

Preview: 1st Bataan Death March 102K Ultramarathon Race

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Pictures, Running, Ultramarathon7 Comments

I am dedicating this post to Kim O’Connell of the Fort Striders Club who, together with her husband Patrick, hosted a Christmas Dinner last month to runner-bloggers in her residence in Metro Manila. Kim, after finishing the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon last 7 December 2008, had told me that she is seriously considering of joining this first ultramarathon race event to commemorate the famous Bataan Death March where it really happened.  

The following pictures will show a glimpse of what to expect and see along the route of the Bataan Death March:

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Last 27 December 2008, I went to Mariveles, Bataan in order to trace the actual route of the famous Bataan Death March. Mariveles is 164 kilometers away from Manila and it took me two hours and half to reach the memorial shrine & park where Km 00 marker is located. The park is located adjacent to Mariveles Jollibee and the Municipal Hall. Inside the shrine/park are two big metal plaques/markers from the National Historic Institute where the story of the event is inscribed. The markers are flanked with the flags of the United States and the Philippines.

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Out of the total 70,000 prisoners of war (POW),  about 10,000 were US forces and the rest were Filipino defenders/soldiers who were all forced to walk from Mariveles & Bagac, Balanga, Bataan  to San Fernando, Pampanga.

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This is Km 00 marker and the actual route of the Death March is properly marked with this kind of structure from Mariveles to San Fernando, Pampanga to Camp O’Donnell, Capas Tarlac. This marker is located on the right side of the road as one goes from Mariveles to San Fernando, Pampanga.

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This is the 1st kilometer of the route. The first seven kilometers and half is an uphill climb to traverse a mountain and the rest of the route to Hermosa, Bataan (Km 65) has a rolling terrain.

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This Km 8 post/marker is located infront of a residential house. This was the only km post where I saw two flagpoles on its sides. On the back of eash post along the route is an inscription/dedication of one of the fallen heroes of the Death March and the specifc person or organization who sponsored/supported the construction of the said marker.

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I was surprised to see that FAME (Filipino-American Memorial Endowment)  was the one that constructed these obelisk kilometer markers and presently maintaining them. FAME is under the auspices of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.

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This is Km 101 which is the 2nd to the last Km marker before reaching the old San Fernando Railway Station (Finish Line of the Ultramarathon Event) where the prisoners boarded a train to Capas, Tarlac. I was surprised that this is the only post which is painted with blue color. Take note that beside the Km marker is a waiting shed which is almost buried due to the lahar from Mt Pinatubo’s eruption.

The “trial run” for this ultramarathon event for participants will be on 22 February 2009 (Sunday) which will start in Balanga, Bataan (vicinity Km 50) to the Finish Line, covering a distance of 52 kilometers. Details of this “group/trial run” will be announced later in this blog. 

To all the participants of this ultramarathon event, I suggest you start running under the heat of the sun, preferably during noon time! Good luck on your training!

“A Runner’s Wish For 2009 & Onwards”

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Races, Running4 Comments

After getting the permission from my friend and fellow-Ilocano, Lakay Felipe Dumpit aka Kinderdorf, I am going to post this article which came from his blog. The post was initiated from an e-mail of Lito Evite which is self-explanatory. I hope the race organizers, sponsors, the officials of PATAFA, and runners will be able to read this post and this will encourage them to be observant on these concerns and feel free to post comments relative to this letter/post.

The following is the post I copied from Kinderdorf: Continue reading ““A Runner’s Wish For 2009 & Onwards”” →

My First Run For 2009

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Running5 Comments

4:54 PM 01 January 2009 @ Rizal High School (Pasig) Oval Track

The sky was still overcast when I started my run in the afternoon of the first day of the year 2009. Upon my arrival at the Rizal High School Oval Track, the elite runners of the Team Bald Runner had just arrived at the place a few minutes ahead of me. I could see that our elite runners of Team Bald Runner are seriously preparing for the March 8 Philippine Marathon for Pasig River. According to Captain Espejo, he updated me with a report that our marathon runners of Team Bald Runner are on their right track and training for them to qualify on the Olympic Marathon finish time of 2:18 hours.

After a warm-up run of 4 laps with an average pace of 6:15 mins/km, I did my stretching and speed drills. I told Captain Espejo that I will be doing a one-hour long run at my 80%-85% (5:45 mins/km pace). He suggested that I should increase my pace for the last 30 minutes of my run. For the first 30 minutes of my run, my average pace was 5:25 mins/km, running on a counter-clockwise direction on the oval track. For the last 30 minutes of my run, I changed my direction on a clockwise along the oval track and I was able to register an average pace of 4:45 mins/km. After one hour of continuous run, I slowly jogged for another lap and then walked for another half lap. To include my warm-up run, I was able to run a distance of 14.4 kilometers with an average pace of 5:11 mins/km.

My workout terminated with a full stretching routine assisted by Coach Espejo. Coach Espejo gave me a positive feedback where he made a comment that I was able to correct the defect on my strides and footstrike. Thanks, Coach Ferdie!

Finally, allow me to make a comment about the Flagcounter that I newly displayed on my blog last 31st December 2008. I am amazed and surprised with the results I am seeing right now with the Flagcounter. After almost two days, I could see that there are readers from 30+ countries around the world visiting this blog. Assuming that the readers are Filipinos, we could just imagine how the Filipinos are located entire the world. On the other hand, if these readers/visitors are really permanent residents in these countries, this proves that running is a “universal” sports and it makes the Philippines also known to them through this running blog.

To my readers/visitors from all over the world, even if you are unable to leave a comment in this blog, thanks for the visits.

94 Days: Last Run For 2008

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Jogging, Pictures, Places to Run, Runners' Training, Running2 Comments

8:30 AM 31 Dec 2008 @ Rizal High School (Pasig) Oval Track

There were three other joggers/walkers when I started my warm-up run at the Rizal High School Oval Track. After four laps, I had my stretching and speed drills. I decided to have my speed/interval runs in order to correct the defect that Captain Espejo had noticed on my strides and footstrike during my previous run.

I did 10 X 400-meter runs with one-minute recovery in between repetition within my 110% effort. On my 1st to 5th laps, I clocked in 1:35 minutes; 6th & 7th laps at 1:40 mins; 8th lap in 1:38 mins; 9th lap in 1:36 mins; and 10th lap in 1:40 mins. During these repetition runs, I experimented even-pace throughout one lap and slow first half and increasing my pace on the last half of the lap. I found the second mode of running, slow & then fast pace, to be the most comfortable way to undertake such speed runs.

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The stage and the 100-meter dash run portion of the Rizal High School (Pasig) Oval Track

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The left side of the Oval Track as I was standing from the stage.

After the 10 reps, I had my cool-down with two laps of slow jogging and another two laps of walking. I ended my workout with stretching exercises. I was supposed to run another 45 minutes at my 80%-85% effort after the speed runs but I really felt tired already and I opted to call it a day. I was able to run a total distance of 7.5 kilometers.

After assessing the results of my speed runs, I found out that my time for every lap was faster than the time for my 110% target goal which is 1:45-1:46 minutes. However, I really don’t know how I fare with my time if I try to reach the maximum 20 reps for a typical/normal speed run workout. With this speed run workout, I was able to correct the defect that Coach Espejo had observed from my previous run at the oval track.

95 Days: Bald Runner’s Top Posts

On By kingofpotsIn Insights, Running4 Comments

The following posts are the top seven (7) ranked stories that got the most number of hits by my readers/visitors:

1) Running Shoes Review: ASICS Gel-Kinsei 2—I posted this article last 24 April 2008 and it got 7,320 views/hits as of the present. I am stil using the said shoe during my “long runs” and “runabouts”  but I have used it only once in a 10K road race. It is the “heaviest” pair of running shoes I am using but it is also the “most comfortable” shoes!

2) Bald Runner—It is the first Page I created with the blog describing me and lately added a list of my road/trail runs & races in it since I created this blog. It got 3,334 hits/view with this page.

3) Road Races—This is the second Page I created where I posted the races I intend to participate/compete. It got 2,961 hits/views.

4) Results: 2008 Women’s Olympic Marathon—I was fascinated to see Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania, live on TV, on her last 5 miles to the Finish Line. She is now the oldest Marathon Champion in the history of the Olympic Games at the age of 38 years old. She finished the 2008 Beijing Women’s Olympic Marathon in 2:26:44 hours. This post got 2,238 hits/views.

5) 2008 Olympic Games & Philippine Sports—In this post, I stated that there are thirty-three (33) sports events in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and out of these sports events, Athletics (Track & Field) has a total of 47 competitive events or gold medal chances for each country to qualify and compete. Since “Athletics” has the most number of gold medal chances for the country, nobody answered my question as to what Sports Event does the Philippines should concentrate in developing and training our athletes so that we have a greater chance of winning our first Olympic Gold Medal. This post got 1,815 hits/views.

6) My Running Idols in the ’80s—Before the Kenyans and the Ethiopians started winning Marathon Races in the 90s and never been featured in cover pages of Runner’s World Magazine, I had the US, Australian, New Zealand, Japanese, and British marathon runners as my idols, each of whom were featured in cover pages in almost all running magazines in the world. Today, instead of featuring the famous African runners on the cover of runner’s magazines, you could see unknown, beautiful, and American women runners on their covers. This post got 1,505 hits/views.

7) Olympic Games Qualifying Standards For Track & Field Events—I suspect that future Olympic athletes, here and from other countries, click on this post as their source of reference. The elite members of Team Bald Runner are closely checking on the qualifying standards for the 1,500-meter, 3,000 Steeplechase, 5,000-meter, 10,000-meter, Marathon (Men’s & Women’s), and race walking events. This post has 1,486 hits/views.

Once again, I would like to emphasize to my readers that this blog is a journal of my running workouts and races and sharing the knowledge on running from what I read and the experiences I got from other runners. My critique and “lessons learned” from road races will also be maintained. I make posts about my reviews to running attires and running shoes but it doesn’t mean that I advertise them. I never advertise any running apparel or running shoes or any item related to running in this blog. This blog does not announce or advertise future road races in my posts except for ultramarathon races. Takbo.ph and the other Pinoy Runner’s Blogs are posting such road race schedule.

Simply said, this blog is about running seriously—competing with yourself to improve & attain your goal…and competing with the digital clock at the Finish Line…and testing the limits of one’s endurance!

Happy New Year To Everybody!!!