Having been invited to attend the assumption of command of my brother as the Commander of the Light Armor Division of the Philippine Army, I broke my vow not to travel on on the second day of June. My brother Samie assumed Command of the only Armor unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines at 2:30 PM last Monday, 02 June 2008 and I was there as one his guests and I was able to represent the rest of the Narcise family. The venue of the activity was at Camp O’Donnel, Capas, Tarlac, at the Headquarters of the Light Armor Division. There was a brief parade of the men and the armor assets/tanks of the unit and simple program for the formal turn-over of the command followed. The activity was presided by no less than the Commanding General of the Philippine Army who is a classmate of my brother at the Philippine Military Academy and a close friend of the family.

It was already nighttime when I reached Manila. After travelling from Laoag City early in the morning of Monday by car, I was already dead-tired when I reached my quarters in Fort Bonifacio.

June 2 passed by without any untoward incident happened and I planned to have an early morning run the following day at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. I wasn’t able to wake up early and just let my body rest till I woke up at 9:00 AM. After a drinking my ginseng coffee and eating my cereals with low-fat milk and banana for breakfast, I decided to prepare for my tempo run at the Libingan.

As I approached the road to the National Cemetery, I found out that a retired military officer was being buried on that moment where the coffin/hearse was about to be marched by soldiers from the Gate to the burial site. I decided not to proceed to the Libingan and instead walked along the Libingan Road going north towards the Philippine Army Gymnasium and I thought of running along the HPA Jogging Lane.

Since it was almost 10:00 AM, I opted to run on the shaded portion with trees of the jogging lane and along the Parade Grounds’ Mural. I was surprised to see that they really improved the jogging lane by making it wider and paved it with asphalt with the proper white paint line on both borders of the lane.

I slowly jogged and set my GF 305 to measure the straight section of the jogging lane from one end/curve to the next curve. My GF 305 measured the distance to be 335 meters.

For the next 30-40 minutes, I made my interval training along this part of the jogging lane with one fast repetition followed with a recovery jog with the same distance. I did five repetitions and the following were the data taken from my GF 305:

1st Lap–1:19 mins    Average Pace–3:26 mins/km

2nd Lap–1:13 mins   Average Pace–3:39 mins/km

3rd Lap–1:21 mins    Average Pace–3:59 mins/km

4th Lap–1:27 mins    Average Pace–4:24 mins/km

5th Lap–1:23 mins    Average Pace–4:14 mins/km

My Heart Rate Monitor registered a reading of 154-168 beats per minute during the activity.

The HPA Jogging Lane had greatly improved with the presence of two (2) drinking water stations; wider lanes; newly-asphalted; and light posts along the lane. As I said in my previous post, anybody could visit and try the HPA Grandstand Jogging Lane anytime of the day up to 10:00 PM

9:12 AM 26 May 2008 @ The Libingan ng mga Bayani

It was a day after the 2008 Doc Fit “Takbo Para Sa Puso” at the UP Campus and I was supposed to have a rest day but with my slower run during this race, I decided to have a short run at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

The sky was cloudy that morning that I finally decided to run after taking my breakfast. I left my quarters inside Fort Bonifacio at 9:00 AM and slowly jogged towards the Libingan Road. Once I crossed the road, I started to run at my 75% effort along the measured 2-mile distance loop towards the Gate of the Libingan ng mga Bayani and was able to register the following data from my GF 305:

Distance—3.20 kms               Time—17:43 mims

Average Pace—5:32 mins/km         Average Speed—10.8 kms/hr

Maximum Speed—13.2 kms/hr      Total Calories—233 cal

Average HR—146 bpm                    Maximum HR—159 bpm

Total Ascent—106 meters              Total Descent—97 meters

Split Times:

Km 1—5:53 mins    Km 2—5:18 mins     Km 3—5:25 mins   203 meters—1:05 mins

After 5 seconds of slow jog, I started another  round of the 2-mile distance loop with a faster pace which is about 95% of my effort. The following data registered in my GF 305:

Distance—3.21 kms                Time—15:39 mins

Average Pace—4:52 mins/km         Average Speed—12.3 kms/hr

Maximum Speed—14.3 kms/hr      Total Calories—236 cal

Average HR—206 bpm                    Maximum HR—239 bpm

Total Ascent—127 meters              Total Descent—125 meters

Split Times:

Km 1—4:46 mins   Km 2—4:42 mins   Km 3—5:11 mins   211 meters—1:00 min

From the starting point, I slowly jogged for another 800 meters until I reached my quarters. It was a nice calculated tempo run for the day and after finishing a 10K run a day before.

I could had made another round at a faster pace but the sun’s light was already breaking the clouds and I felt the heat of the sun to my body.

Surprisingly, my heart rate overshoot my usual 168-172 beat per minute range to an Average HR of 206 bpm to a Maximum HR of 239  bpm for the second run. However, I did not feel any difficulty in breathing or heaviness on my chest after the said run. I can still make another run but I decided not to force myself and I was satisfied already with the results of my run. This latest data that I got from my GF Heart Rate Monitor indicate that I am not utilizing my “turbo power” to its fullest! My body is now adjusting to the stress & physical activities brought about by my aerobic & anaerobic exercises for the past weeks.

Next time, I will try to have my tempo runs at the Headquarters Philippine Army Grandstand and Parade Grounds which was improved lately with lights and two drinking fountains with filtered water along the 980-meter jogging lane. The place is relatively flat. The jogging lane is open to anybody at 5:00 AM till 10:00 PM and has a secured Parking Area fronting the Officer’s Clubhouse or on the right side of the Grandstand.