14 Jan 2008 (PM)—6 miles or 9.6 kilometers
15 Jan 2008 (AM)—6 miles or 9.6 kilometers
(PM)—6 miles or 9.6 kilometers
16 Jan 2008 (AM)—10 miles or 16 kilometers
(PM)—7 miles or 11.2 kilometers
17 Jan 2008 (AM)—7 miles or 11.2 kilometers
18 Jan 2008 (AM)—7 miles or 11.2 kilometers
19 Jan 2008—Rest/No Runs
20 Jan 2008 (AM)—13 miles or 21 kilometers (Subic Half-Marathon)
Total Distance Covered—62 miles or 99.2 kilometers
14 January 2008 (6:00 PM-7:00 PM/Evening Run)
I am back in Jamindan yesterday afternoon after finishing the 2008 Clark Freeport 10K Run in the morning. I was in a hurry to be back in Manila to catch my plane trip back to Capiz scheduled to depart after lunch.
The Commanding General of the Philippine Army arrived early this morning (6:30 AM) in Roxas City to visit my Division Headquarters in the mountains of Jamindan. From my camp, I had to fetch him and his party from Roxas City Airport using two Huey Helicopters of the Philippine Air Force. It was his first visit to my Command Headquarters since he assumed the highest position of the Philippine Army, four and half months ago. This visit was his fourth attempt as the previous scheduled trips had been cancelled due to sudden and more important commitments in Manila. After visiting my camp and talking to my troops, he visited also two major units under my command in Dingle, Iloilo. He and his party left the Iloilo Airport for Manila at 3:00 PM.
Instead of using the Huey Helicopters back to my camp, I opted to ride my service vehicle/van from the Iloilo Airport back to Jamindan. The trip took me at least three hours for a distance of 160+ kilometers due to bad roads and more roads under repair along the way.
Immediately after I arrived at my quarters, I changed to my running attire and ran 6 miles or 9.6 kilometers along the two-mile route inside the camp. It was an easy & relaxing run with a time of 57:02 minutes, with an average pace of 9:30 minutes per mile or 5:56 minutes per kilometer.
Elapsed Time—57:02 minutes
Time In Zone (135-165 HR)—46:54 minutes
Maximum HR—157
Minimum HR—91
Average HR—140
Total Calories—671
I expect to have more miles/kilometers to run this week before the 2008 Subic Half-Marathon this coming Sunday.
07 Jan 2008 (AM)—10 miles 0r 16 kilometers
07 Jan 2008 (PM)—5 miles or 8 kilometers
08 Jan 2008—7 miles or 11.2 kilometers
09 Jan 2008—5 miles or 8 kilometers
10 Jan 2008—7.5 miles or 12 kilometers (Massage @ Marco Polo Cebu)
11 Jan 2008—No runs
12 Jan 2008—No runs/Massage @ Olympia Reflexology
13 Jan 2008—6.2 miles or 10 kilometers (Clark’s 10K Run)
Total Distance: 40.7 miles or 65.2 kilometers
08 January 2008 (6:15 AM-7:20 AM)
I had my practice run at The Fort this morning. After running three times along the road infront of the International School, which is basically the road extension from Market! Market, I had the experience of running along the road that surrounds the Bonifacio High Street Mall. I followed the route being used by a group of cyclists doing some criterium along the said route. I was able to see male & female runners running the said route whose faces are very familiar in weekend races in Metro Manila. I think they knew me because they greeted me and smiled. I had to greet and smile at them, too!..I was not wearing my runner’s cap!
I was able to run three times along the said route before going towards MC Home Depot and turning left towards Jollibee and ran towards One McKinley. From The Infinity, I proceeded back to Fort Bonifacio.
I was able to run 7 miles or 11.2 kilometers with a time of 1:05:04 hours. I considered this workout as an easy run.
The following data were taken from my Zone Trainer Heart Rate Digital Monitor:
Elapsed Time—1:05:04 hours
In Zone Time(145-165 HR)—1:03:44 hours
Average HR—153
Maximum HR—164
Minimum HR—109
Total Calories—892
07 January 2008 (5:25 AM-7:00 AM)
I was able to run a distance of 10 miles or 16 kilometers at The Fort; Market! Market Extension Road; and to the HPA Grandstand’s 2-mile course. I finished the run at 1:31:56 hours. This was an easy run.
The following data were taken from the Zone Trainer Digital Heart Monitor:
Elapsed Time—1:31:56 hours
Time In Zone (135-165 HR)—1:30:32 hours
Average HR—150
Maximum HR—163
Minimum HR—101
Total Calories—1,222
07 January 2008 (6:15 PM-7:05 PM)
After spending the whole day in an official function at Camp Aguinaldo, I made my early evening run from my quarters to the Fort Bonifacio Grandstand & Parade Ground along the extended 2-mile route, making at least four rounds and running along Bayani Road and Lawton Avenue towards Gate 1 of Fort Bonifacio and back to my quarters. My run lasted for 46:34 minutes covering a distance of 5 miles or 8 kilometers. This run was a modified speed play with “fartleks” along the route.
The following were the data taken from the Zone Trainer Digital Heart Monitor:
Elapsed Time—46:34 minutes
Time In Zone (135-165 HR)—44:02 minutes
Average HR—145
Maximum HR—155
Minimum HR—96
Total Calories—583
This is my second time to run twice-a-day. I was able to run a total of 15 miles or 24 kilometers for today. It was a nice run. I am starting to feel comfortable and adjusted running twice-a-day.
31 Dec 2007—10 miles or 16 kilometers
02 Jan 2008—12.5 miles or 20.16 kilometers
04 Jan 2008—23.5 miles or 37.6 kilometers (AM & PM Runs)
05 Jan 2008—8.5 miles or 13.6 kilometers
06 Jan 2008—Rest/No Runs
Total Distance For The Week—54.5 miles or 87.36 kilometers
04 January 2008 (AM & PM Runs)
AM Run (5:10 AM-6:50 AM)
Today, I had my “twice-a-day” run. This morning, I woke up at 4:45 AM and I was on the road at 5:10 AM. I started my morning run from my quarters at Fort Bonifacio and proceeded to Market! Market! From Market! Market, I ran through the road infront of the International School up to the road going to the former Gate 1 of Fort Bonifacio. I made my turn-around point at the road going to the former/old St. Michael Chapel and proceeded back to Market! Market!, turning right towards the street fronting the MC Home Depot. I made a left turn at Jollibee and proceeded towards McDonald’s.
Passing infront of One McKinley, I proceeded back to Lawton Avenue, left turn at Bayani Road and entered the Philippine Army Golf Course. I made a 2-mile run at the HPA Grandstand 2-mile course with a time of 16:50 minutes. I had more rounds at the 2-mile course before proceeding back to my quarters. I was able to run for 1:44:14 hours. I was able to run 12.5 miles or 20 kilometers. My average pace was 8:20 mins per mile or 5:12 minutes per kilometer.
PM Run (6:10 PM-7:50 PM)
I had an evening run from my quarters at Fort Bonifacio to the Libingan ng mga Bayani, running along the 2-mile route once, and proceeded to the Bayani Road going towards Lawton Avenue. From Lawton Avenue, I proceeded to The Fort towards Market! Market! and going all the way to the road fronting the International School. I was able to reach the road that goes to the old St. Michael Chapel and back to the crossing at Market! Market! and going right towards MC Home Depot. Upon reaching the Jollibee, I was on my way back to Lawton Avenue and eventually entering Gate 1 of Fort Bonifacio. From there, I had my cool-down run/jogging towards my quarters.
I continuously ran for 1:40:26 hours. I was running at a slower pace after running inside the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The road condition at the Bayani Road was not good and uneven, however, once I reached the portion fronting the Army Golf Course, I was running on the elevated side walk. I was able to run a distance of 11 miles or 17.6 kilometers. My pace was 9:00 minutes per mile or 5:40 minutes per kilometer.
For today, I was able to run a total distance of 23.5 miles or 37.6 kilometers with a total time of 3:24:40 hours.
So far, so good. I hope I can sustain my build-up/strengthening phase and have more long runs before the Marathon D-Day.
02 January 2008 (AM Run)
I had an early morning run with my son, John Paul, in Laoag City. We covered a distance of 12.5 miles or 20.16 kilometers.
From Barangay Dibua South, we went to Laoag City/Padsan Bridge and was able to reach the crossing going to the Gabu/Laoag Airport and Suba Road, infront of the Northwestern College. From there, which was our turn-around point, we went back to Laoag City Poblacion and ran along Bacarra Road. And before reaching Divine Word College, we turned left towards the MMSU and ultimately reached the Laoag City Sports Complex where we had “speed runs” along the oval track. We completed at least eight rounds around the oval and additional two rounds for our cool-down run.
We had an elapsed running time of 1:48:15 hours (excluding the cool-down run). We ran at an average pace of 8:39.6 minutes per mile or 5:22 minutes per kilometer.
We were met by my driver and security detail at the Oval Track where we had our “Gatorade” break after running almost one hour and thirty minutes. It was my longest run where I was able to deprive my body from water/fluid intake.
On our way to the Gabu Road, we were running at an average pace of 9:00-9:15 minutes per mile. But from the turn-around point on our way back to the Poblacion and to the Oval Track, my son and I were already racing with one another where he dropped me by almost fifty meters. I was running at an average pace of 8:20-8:30 mins per mile while my son was running at an average pace of 7:45-8:15 mins per mile.
At one time at the Oval Track, we tried to do a Yasso 800 once. My son was timed at 3:45 minutes while I did a poor 4:20 minutes! Well, that was after we were both ran on the road for about 10 miles already.
After the run, we had stretching for 15 minutes and drank Gatorade and lots of water. From the Oval Track, we boarded our car on our way back to our house at Barangay Dibua.
The following data were taken from my Zone Trainer Digital Heart Monitor:
Time “In Zone” (135-165HR)—1:24:24 hours
Maximum HR—167
Average HR—144
Minimum HR—88
Total Calories—1,294
It was a nice run with my son and I am really impressed on his endurance and speed. He told me that he had already started preparing for the next Los Angeles Marathon which will be held on the first Sunday of March 2008.
When I prepared for my first marathon in the early ’80s, I’ve been running twice a day, running early in the morning and later in the afternoon. I usually start my run in the morning as early as 5:00 AM and finish before 7:00 AM, running a minimum of 10 kilometers. In the afternoon, I start my run at 5:00 PM and finish before 7:00 PM running almost the same distance as what I had covered in the morning.
I was able to do all these runs because I was still young at that time and could easily recover from muscle pains and aches due to running after few hours of sleep and rest. I was glad I did not have any major injuries except for leg cramps, shin splints, and stomach cramps. These pains and aches became my “body signals” when to stop running or reduce my mileage. While I was building my endurance capability, I did not focus on speed for longer distances or tempo play but more on “fartlek” of lesser distances up to 200 meters.
It appears in my readings that there were elite runners who started to introduce lesser mileage and more speed works/tempo runs in their running workouts plus more days to recover in order to improve one’s time to finish the marathon. But this approach to training is only good to elite runners who had reached their peak or best PR and starting to get older. Lesser mileages and more speed/tempo runs as training workout for new/younger runners is not advisable. This will lead to injuries, frustrations and inconsistencies.
I am reminded of the comment of our postman in Los Angeles who is also a marathoner/runner. After knowing that I ‘ve stopped running for so many years and trying to return to marathon training, he said, “It will be a hard and painful one for you to go back”. I guess, he is telling the truth!
After browsing some runner’s websites, I came upon this website (www.letsrun.com) and these two articles were able to convince me to go “back to basics” on runner’s training.
Starting on New Year’s Day, I will be running twice-a-day on my easy runs to build-up my endurance and slowly get serious with “tempo” runs/speed plays. This will be a very slow process but I am sure this is the right direction to be back as a competitive runner at my age. I know it will take months and years but this is a commitment I should start doing for the year 2008.
To all the Runners, Happy New Year, More Miles To Run & Injury-Free In 2008!!!
24 Dec 2007—Rest Day
25 Dec 2007—11 miles/17.8 kilometers
26 Dec 2007—Dumbbell Exercises & Strengthening Exercises
27 Dec 2007—12 miles/19.2 kilometers
28 Dec 2007—Rest Day
29 Dec 2007—6.2 miles/10 kilometers
30 Dec 2007—7 miles/11.2 kilometers
Total Mileage: 36.7 miles/57.92 kilometers
Bald Runner 
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