In June 2012, I posted a Training Plan for Ultra Distances which I copied from the book of Bryon Powell, “Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide To Running Ultramarathon. In July 2012, I posted another training program for ultra distances but the link on the Internet is no longer available. The training programs that I posted in this blog had been observed to have one of the posts that have been visited more often by my readers and visitors.
Today, I am posting a training program which, I think, I bought from the Internet and I am glad to share it with you. This Training Program for 100K is from Luke Humprey Running of Hansons Running Project. This is applicable to Road & Trail Running distances/events.
This training program has a duration of 18 weeks and it is very easy to follow and understand. It has more speed and intensity as compared to the training plans I posted 8 years ago. It is more detailed on the description of each workout. It is assumed that you are already an average competitive runner if you want to follow this training plan.
This is a Photo Video that I posted on You Tube with the objective to document the past accomplishments of our local trail runners in international trail running event like the UTMB. This video will be also an instrument for others who will be inspired to join this event in the near future. Thank you for watching.
After six months of blogging on this site, I retired from the active military service and created a team of elite runners which was then called “Team Bald Runner (Elite)”. I had then the best running team in Local Races in the country consisting of active soldiers from the Philippine Army and Candidate Soldiers for Enlistment to the Philippine Army. The team was coached and supervised by three (3) local coaches who were active soldiers (also) and about to retire from the active military service. One was an officer with a Rank of Captain and the two other coaches were senior Non-Commissioned Officers or Enlisted Men. The Officer and one of the Enlisted Men were IAAF sanctioned Level 3/4 Coaches while the other Senior Enlisted Man was a former Local Marathon Champion of so many Corporate-supported Marathon Races and winner also in International Marathon Races (Southeast Asia) in the 70s and early 80s.
During those days, my team won almost all the weekly fun runs and local marathon races, to include the early editions of Ultra Trail Running Events sponsored by one of the Outdoor brands. Their prizes were their personal incentives and I never had any share from their earnings. It was my way of helping them and motivate them to improve in their way of living. Almost all of them came from poor families in the provinces and longing to enter the military service with the running talent that they possess. I am proud that I became the bridge and instrument for them to enter the military service as most of them now have rise up from the ranks of Private to Staff/ Technical Sergeants, and for the smart ones, they became members of the Officer Corps. I had also the chance to bring them to International Races in Asia in IAU-sanctioned and world corporate sponsored races. In all these international races, they brought pride to our National Pride and Flag without any support coming from the Government.
Elite Team Bald Runner @ IAU-Sanctioned Jeju 100K Ultramarathon
The whole Team were housed and supported by me for three years. And one of the Multi-National Corporate Brands in the country had supported the Team for 6 months with the objective of qualifying them to the National Pool of athletes for the Marathon distance. Despite such effort, the support to this Team was not sustained as to the cohesiveness of the team and in terms of financial resources. There had been personal differences among my Coaches plus the fact that most of my runners became regular soldiers of the Philippine Army and some were re-assigned to different units outside Metro Manila. When the Team was dissolved, these three Coaches went on their own lives. One continued to develop runners in the “grassroots” level in the province where he is now residing. One is already immigrant in one of the temperate countries in the West. And the other one is still active as a Coach in Metro Manila. I think one of the Local Qualifiers for the Boston Marathon is being handled by this Coach. You can ask around about this Local Coach if he is still available to be your Coach and be able to guide you to qualify for the Boston Marathon.
For some of the former members of the Elite Team Bald Runner, I have seen them as “Coaches” to some new runners whenever I do my daily running workouts at the Philippine Army Parade Grounds’ Jogging Lane in the early morning or in the late afternoon.
As I have monitored in the Social Media for the past 6-7 years, I have read and seen Coaches on running giving their services to new runners and I am not sure where they got their IAAF Certification or other related Running Coach Certification as Running Coaches. I am not questioning their credibility but, personally, it is very irritating to hear new runners calling a certain average/competitive runner as a “Coach” as their title to them! This personal observation goes also to my former members of the Elite Team Bald Runner.
Why am I mentioning this thing? Because there are so many pretenders in the local running community. I am very sorry to say this one and it is my opinion based from my personal experience and observation of what I see and hear around. Just because they (Local Coaches) can finish a Marathon Race in Sub-3 or Sub-4 hours, they are now allowed to be given the title as Coach. More often, if they always give you some advise and you feel you are getting stronger and faster, the tendency is for you to call this person as your “Coach”. I know, I am becoming “judgmental” on this but that is the reality nowadays. Just be aware that at some point as you progressed in your running career, you will experience what they call “running plateau” where the same workouts that are being fed to you by your Coach will no longer result to a better performance on your part and that will be the time that you are almost a few minutes or seconds before you can qualify for the Boston Marathon. This will be your greatest dilemma or challenge.
The Bible Of Ultrarunning According To Bald Runner
Always remember, if you want the services of a Coach and if you don’t want to pay, YOU are the best Coach to yourself because Running is the experiment of one! And you are the most reliable to be able to “Listen To Your Body”. But if you have the time and money, get the services of a PROFESSIONAL Coaching Service and you will continuously progress towards the attainment of your goal without any injury.
(Note: Starting in my succeeding posts, I will be sharing what I have learned from CTS based from the training workouts given to me from those four (4) months leading to the 2017 Revel Canyon City Marathon. I will be requesting a $2.00 donation (not compulsory) if you think my suggestion/advise will be useful to you and in your training leading to your goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon. You can send it through Pay Pal through my e-mail address: jovie75@hotmail.com. Such donation will go for the maintenance of this website and Internet connection service. Thank you very much!)
If you have any comments about this article, please post your thoughts on the Comment below and I will try to answer you as soon as possible. Thank you.
Our series about this topic will continue on Monday. Have a nice day to everybody!
Training Plans On The Internet & Professional Coaching Services
From the age of 45 years old to 64 years old, the range of Qualifying Time for Men’s is from 3:20 hours to 3:50 hours. And for the Women’s in the same range of age, it is 3:50 hours to 4:20 hours. Those qualifying times are very hard to attain if you are not consistent in your training. So, what should you do? You have two options: Download a Training Plan in the Internet or simply follow the suggested Training Plans at the back of every Running Book published and available in the market (that is one option). And the other option is subscribe to a Professional Coaching Service where you could apply with a considerable amount of monthly fee or a fee for the whole package deal of the Training Plan. In the number of years that I have been a runner, I have tried both and at the present I am under the supervision and coaching service of the CTS.
Let us talk first with the FIRST Option of getting a Training Plan in the Internet or in the back pages of Running Books. You can do that and most likely, you will not pay for anything or if you download those training plans with a fee, it is still very cheap and affordable. However, you should be consistent in following your training plan. Nobody will monitor you except yourself. As long as you follow the scheduled workouts and you attain your desired pace or speed to a certain distance, there is no problem. Most of these training plans consider your weekly mileage as the barometer of your weekly performance. You will realize that your training program will ask you to do more of your mileage to become faster. These training plans will not consider or measure your body condition after every workout and you have only your Strava or any Training Platform where you can download the data from your GPS Watch and see the basic distance, time of duration of your run, pace/speed. elevation, and your heart rate. Your watch might recommend also the number of recovery hours every workout but most of the time, such data is not always accurate.
If you are training on your own, you have to consider visiting the Jack Daniels’ VDOT Running Calculator. All you have to do is to input your Boston Marathon Qualifying Time and it will calculate your Race Pace for the Marathon; your Training Pace for each type of running workout, and Equivalent Pace/Speed for each Distance from 1,500 meters to Marathon Distance. If you can attain your Target Goal Time in 4-6 months, then you are very good and very consistent in your training. But remember, these training plans should be supplemented with better hydration, nutrition, strength training, recovery periods, and flexibility exercises. On this site, you can ask for a custom plan depending on the number of weeks you select as the duration of your training. An example is: You pay $100 for a Training Plan for 24 weeks based from your target goal time.
Ultrarunning Book By Jason Koop
When I applied for Professional Coaching Service with CTS, the book, “Training Essentials For Ultrarunning: How To Train Smarter, Race Faster, and Maximize Your Ultramarathon Performance” by Jason Koop was just published and available in the market in May 2016. I immediately bought the book and personally contacted Jason Koop through Direct Message on Facebook and asked him if I can qualify to apply for their Coaching Service even if I am about to reach the age of 65 years old. He replied positively and the next days and weeks, I was asked to answer some questionnaire about my running, set up my Premium Training Peaks, and I had my first telephone conversation with my designated Coach. So, in the middle of June 2016, I started my training geared towards a “smarter and faster” ultrarunner. If you happened to read the book of Jason Koop, you would find out how scientific is their approach to make you a long-lasting ultrarunner. And for the past 4 years that I have been a “CTS athlete”, they have valued to maintain my healthy condition as a runner so that I can enjoy running as long as I live.
For the first 6 months as a CTS Athlete, I subscribed to their Premium Plan with One Month Free with a monthly subscription of $300. You can click on their site if you want to know more of their Coaching Services. For the past 3 years, I downgraded to their Select level where I am paying a subscription of $185 per month with a yearly contract. But before last year, I was paying then $175 per month. I am not telling or suggesting you to apply also for a Professional Coaching Service as most of these more popular and credible (not “fly-by-night”) ones have the number of athletes to attend to, are filled-up already. You are very lucky if you will be accepted as one of their CTS athletes but you may never know. You can try. I must accept that those first 4 months that I have trained with CTS, I became stronger ultrarunner but my “gut problem” due to heat was always my weakness. Slowly, I have progressed through the years with the help of my Coach on this problem. I can say that CTS accidentally helped me to qualify for the Boston Marathon.
Carmichael Training System (CTS): Train Right
What is the difference between CTS and this Training Plans in the Internet? There are so many differences. First, CTS measures your training output by the time (number of hours) you put in to your weekly training schedule. Those Training Plans in the Internet measure your output by the number of miles/kilometers you run for the week. CTS monitors my daily workout through the Premium Training Peaks and I have once in two weeks telephone conversation for 30 minutes with my Coach. My Coach had never been changed since the time I started to be enrolled with their service. You could just imagine the relationship I have developed with my Coach for the past four years.
In the coming days, I will mention in my posts the details of my training workouts leading to the 2017 Revel Canyon City Marathon Race.
Starting today, June 16, 2020, I will be starting a series of posts/blogs on the topic, “How To Qualify For The Boston Marathon”. The objective of these series is to inspire and motivate other runners to qualify for the Boston Marathon, most specially, to the local runners in the Philippines. Qualifying For The Boston Marathon means through their Qualifying Time Standard and not through their Charity Entry.
When I started running seriously in the early 70s for my First Marathon Race in Metro Manila, I started to know about the Boston Marathon when I decided to buy old copies of the Runner’s World Magazine in Dau, Angeles City. Every single issue of the magazine had the Boston Marathon mentioned in most of the articles and stories. Later, I found out that it is the Oldest and Most Prestigious Marathon Race in the US, and to some, in the entire World.
In the early days of the “running boom” in the Philippines in the 70s and early 80s, there were Winners/Champions of the MILO Marathon then who were brought to the USA to join the Boston Marathon as part of their Prize. But apparently, it was stopped. I am not sure how many of our past MILO Marathon Champions who were fortunate to join this prestigious Marathon Race.
As I trained and joined in my first Local Marathon Races in Manila, I have always thought of comparing my Finish Times with the Qualifying Times of the Boston Marathon then. I was frustrated to find out that the Qualifying Time for my Age Bracket/s then (25-29; 30-34; and 35-40) were too fast as compared to my Finish Time/s in local Marathon Races. There was a time when I was assigned in PMA, Baguio City (1986-1989) and thought of improving my running performance because of the challenging terrain and elevation as I continued running with my subordinates. This was where I introduced the “500-Km Club” among my Unit’s/Office Personnel where we would run along Kennon Road and around the PMA Compound and Vicinity on a regular basis. Unfortunately, on those days, there were no longer Marathon Races being organized in Metro Manila. After being transferred to Mindanao for a few months and then later to the Headquarters Philippine Army in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City in the late 80s and early 90s, I completely forgot my goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon.
Fast Forward. Not until I started this blog in the late 2007 that Boston Marathon kept coming back into my mind. However, with the birth of the Bataan Death March 102K Ultramarathon Race, Boston Marathon was completely forgotten as I slowly drifted to the world of Ultramarathon and Ultra Trail Running. To tell you the truth, it was completely accidental that I was able to qualify for the Boston Marathon when I joined and finished the 2017 Revel Canyon City Marathon Race and surprisingly, I got the First Place in the 65-69 Age Category Bracket with a time of 3:46:06 hours which is 14 minutes faster than my Boston Marathon Qualifying Time for the same Age Bracket.
Finisher’s Medal & Certificate Of Award @ 2017 Revel Canyon City Marathon
After I finished the 2017 Revel Canyon City Marathon Race, it took me days, weeks, and months to digest, collate, assess and make a conclusion on what went right before and during the race. Up to this time, I am still trying to recall the factors that contributed to my successful effort to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Through this blog, I will share to you the details of this journey. It is very easy to say that it takes determination, discipline, consistency, patience, and focus to be able to attain your goal in our lives and these attributes apply also to being qualified to the Boston Marathon. But the details that you have to do under these attributes will be challenging, and to some, are very frustrating.
If you are attempting or have the goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon, brace for the worst, and prepare your body physically and mentally. Financially, will come later! So, join me in this journey in recalling my story on how I was able to qualify for the Boston Marathon (The Legit Way).
Since the time that I have been blogging about Running and other related topics and subjects on the development of local athletes in the National Sports Excellence Program for the Elite Runners and local talents with potentials to become included in the National Pool ofElite Athletes, I have always thought and wrote about the creation of a National Sports Academy to address this matter. Every time that this “idea” would come into discussion and part of recommendation for our better ranking in the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games, and the Summer Olympic Games is when our political leaders and sports analysts try to find out what is the problem in our Elite Sports Program and why we are always at the bottom rank among our Southeast Asian and Asian countries. And up to this time in the history of the Summer Olympic Games, the Philippines has never attained its FIRST Gold Medal. It is becoming a recurring discussion, investigation, and Senate/Congressional Hearings on how we would be able to have the BEST Athletes for International Competitions and such investigations were always done after the past International Games were held but after one week, all the discussions/investigations and recommendations were all forgotten. This cycle is being repeated every two years and four years when the SEA Games, Asian/Olympic Game are held, respectively.
Our National Pride was saved when we hosted the 2019 Southeast Asian Games (last year) where we ranked as the Number One among the SEA countries and hosted a top-notch caliber of accommodation and hospitality to our visitors. Such “bravado” on the part of the National Leadership to “salvage” the hosting of the 2019 SEA Games from Brunei on the later part of 2015 which was initially planned to use our existing Sports Facilities/Stadiums and with the addition of the Philippine Arena had made way for the Duterte Administration to create a specific Place or Area where the 2019 SEA Games would be held. Thus, the New Clark City was created in a record time of two years as the site of the 2019 SEA Games. Its structures and facilities for Sports Events are high-tech and very modern that it can compete or better than the facilities for the Asian Games and Summer Olympic Games. Bottomline, we should always remember that we have attained a level of “The Best In Excellence” as a Nation in Sports and the “Best In Hospitality” as part of our National Culture and Trait. Let us continue these in the years ahead.
This month of June 2020 and after 7 months from the being the Number 1 in the SEA Games, President Duterte had signed Republic Act No. 11470 which provides for the creation of the National Academy of Sports last June 9, 2020 in a simple ceremony at the Presidential Guest House in Davao City. “The Academy aims to develop aspiring Filipino athletes who are in the secondary level or high school and have demonstrated potential to excel in VARIOUS SPORTS by providing WORLD-CLASS for training and at the same time, continue their education”. The Academy shall be attached with the Department of Education in close coordination with the Philippine Sports Academy. The Academy shall be established at the New Clark City Sports Complex in Capas, Tarlac using its structures, facilities, and accommodation for the students.
President Duterte Signing The Law & Being Witnessed By Senator Bong Go As The Author
This my personal opinion on the creation of the National Academy of Sports (NAS). Finally, one of my ideas in the development of Sports Excellence had been realized. It is a small FIRST step but it is really BIG in terms of providing continuity and permanence in instilling sports excellence among our local athletes. However, I have yet to read the whole content of this Law and find out the details on its Organization, Administration and Operation. I will be writing and posting updates on this Law once I get hold a copy of it. It will be a good source of discussion in my future posts.
Most of the stories I have posted in this blog for this year were blog or journal on the daily adventure of Thomas Combisen during the 2020 Hongkong Four Trails Ultra Challenge which was held during the Chinese New Year last January.
The conversation between Thomas and Andre Blumberg in this video validates and proves that Thomas will be going back for the iconic 10th Anniversary Edition next year of this event. Hopefully, we will be back to normal to travel to other countries in the next months. As of now, Thomas is back in his training for this event and be able to finish it in sub-60 hours.
At this moment, I am compiling all the posts and stories of Thomas Combisen from the time he joined my Running Events and his exposure to International Events under the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) and Trail Ultra Races sanctioned by ITRA. I hope I can come up and publish an Ebook about his adventures in Running.
Sometime on the first week of August 2011, I have written on this blog about the Maffetone’s Training in Running and it was very effective then during my training days in preparation for my running races. For the whole month of August 2011, almost all my blogposts were devoted on my personal application of the MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) Test and the Carbohydrate’s “Two-Week Test”. You can revisit and review these posts by clicking the links. All of these posts were my personal experience and application of such training method after buying the Kindle Edition of the book, Dr. Phil Maffetone’s “The Big Book On Endurance Training and Racing” which I bought then at Amazon.com.
Book Of Dr Phil Maffetone
Fast Forward. Two weeks ago, I came across, by accident, a book by Stu Mittleman entitled “Slow Burn: Burn Fat By Exercising Slower” and I recalled my past posts about the Maffetone’s Training and reviewed them again together with the Kindle Edition of Dr Phil Maffetone’s Book. On the following day, I started applying the Stu Mittleman running method and after a few days, I realized that I have to go back to the Maffetone Training Method. And that is now what I have been doing for almost 3 weeks, as I am now on my third week.
I have been following the “180 Formula” which means that to come up with a Maximum Aerobic Function (MAF), my Hear Rate should be, 180 minus my age of 68 which is 112. But since I am more than 65 years old and had been regularly running (without any injuries) for the past years, I can add 10 beats per minute to 112, making my Maximum Heart Rate to 122 beats per minute using the MAF Method. I have been using my SUUNTO Ambit 3 Peak GPS Watch as my Heart Rate Monitor.
For the past weeks, I have been diligently following the MAF Heart Rate in my easy and recovery runs where my HR Average ranges from 111 to 117 beats per minute. However, what is very unique in my application of the MAF is that I am using it in my daily runs within my Backyard Loop. My Backyard Loop is 95% single track trail with uneven ground with some feet of elevation which has a distance of 480 meters in one loop. As compared when I was doing the MAF in 2011, my runs were done on paved roads and my monthly MAF Tests were done in an Oval Track (Remy Field in Subic Freeport). I was running faster then because the conditions of the road and oval track were very ideal.
On my third week since Monday, I have been registering an Average of 112 to 117 beats per minute in my daily runs within my Backyard Loop with an Average Speed of 3.6 to 3.8 miles per hour. On the paved road, with the same average of HR, I could get an Average Speed of 4.6-5.0 miles per hour or faster.
I plan to conduct my first MAF Test using my Backyard Loop as the venue next week (4th week) instead of going to the Oval Track. Another option would be to conduct the MAF Test along the paved road where I could determine a distance of One Mile. We will see if I would be able to do two sets of MAF Tests next week, one for trail and another for the road.
If you are interested to learn more about the Maffetone Training Method, you can simply buy the book or go to the website of Dr Phil Maffetone as you can download the MAF Method for FREE. You can also get many information about everything about Nutrition and Training.
If you have a YouTube account, please visit and subscribe to my YouTube Channel as I will be posting Videos about my training using the Maffetone Method.
A few weeks after I finished the 2017 Revel Canyon City Marathon Race, I received an e-mail telling me that my Official Pictures and Video are ready to be uploaded. I was surprised to receive such message, most especially, when such documentation service from the Race Organizer had provided such to all the Finishers for FREE! This is the beauty and advantage of the Revel Races being held in the US. Most of their races are downhill, lesser in number of participants, Boston Marathon Qualifier, cheap as compared to others, no lottery, and free pictures/videos. They have also high quality “swags” like Finisher’s T-Shirts and Medals. At one time, they gave a Free Pair of Goodr Sunglasses.
The following is the video of the Race and it is personalized for me as a souvenir for the race. It is unfortunate that the 2017 edition was the last edition of this Marathon Race in Azusa, California. The Race Organizer had transferred the venue to Big Bear, California and I missed to join it last year.
Thank you for watching this short video. And thank you for dropping by.
Bald Runner 
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