2009: The Start of My Fitness Journey

Year 2009 indeed was a very memorable and active year for me both in my professional and personal life. I am happy about the outcome as this year has given me a sense of accomplishment in both worlds. This year, I can say that I managed to balance work and play. I was able to focus in achieving some of my key goals and objectives. As a result, I got two promotions at work and I was able to finish a full marathon this year, and I lost 11 lbs.

In 2008, I was not able to focus on my fitness activity, I was on and off in the gym and don’t have a clear focus and discipline to pursue it. This year, I was able to focus on two activities – biking and running. I started to ride again in February and used that as my main fitness activity. In March, I joined the Condura Run, which was my first official race doing a 10k run. From then on I enjoyed running and included that in my fitness regimen. I run at least 4 times a week, and rode every Saturday. My total mileage for running was 646.21 km and 1035.30 km for biking. Too many injuries for me this year and both knees had it. I have learned from my mistakes, and hopefully, I stay injury free next year.

A lot of “My First” this year, that was joining the following distances in running: 10k, 21k, 42k, and joining one MTB race. Together with my friends, we created the Gone Running Club, we thought of putting up one so that we can all motivate each other to continue what we started. We ended the year with a total mileage of 10,178.73 km.

I am grateful with all the friends I met in running, I was surprised to learn that it was a big community already here in the Philippines. Thanks to Takbo.ph people who were very supportive to all of us who were new to running. I learned a lot from their experiences which they have written in their blogs and that also encouraged me to create my own blog site. I was able to make friends with some of their members, and hopefully I meet more of them in the future runs. Thanks again.

For next year, I have set my goals already here they are:

1. To achieve a sub 50 for a 10k run.
2. To achieve a sub 2 hrs for a 21k run.
3. To achieve a sub 4:30 hours for a 42k run.
4. To do my first duathlon.
5. To lose 16 lbs.
6. and to stay injury-free.

Most of this are aggressive goals for me, I just hope I can keep up with it.

This year was a start of my fitness journey and both running and biking has become a way of life. I hope to continue this and that I may be able to share my experiences to everyone and encourage others to start living a healthy life. Happy New Year to all and God Bless you!

How I Finished my First Marathon

To me it was such an achievement to have completed my first Marathon. Looking back (as I engage in being active again in my fitness activities), there were times that I struggled in every event that I took such as my first Mountain Bike Trail, my first 10km and my first half marathon. Struggled in the sense that I have felt so stressed out that I “hit the wall”, gasped for air, and the numerous knee and leg pains after each event. I knew that as a beginner, I was bound to experience those pains since my body needed to adjust to the level of physical activities that I am getting into. Plus of course the lack of understanding on how to prepare for such event. As I learn new things in every event that I joined, I had my own share on the pie of those athletes who gets injured due to improper training, and running too fast too soon, and among other things.

Preparation and proper training is key in every event. Especially in joining a full marathon, it is important that you gain enough mileage and follow a sound training plan to help you finish your goal. However in some cases, there are certain constraints (injury, illness, time to train, weather, lack of motivation, etc..) that hinders you from following your training plan to the letter. Most of the time people would just stop and forego their plans to proceed on what they intended to do in the first place. But how can you overcome these constraints and maintain focus in achieving your goal? Here are some thoughts that helped me overcome my own problems prior to my first Marathon.

1. Defining your goals – This sets the foundation on why you want to train. It allows you to focus and get back to this goal whenever you are doubting yourself in your preparation. You must not only set a date on your first marathon but also come up with an objective on why you want to finish one. This will remind you later on during your run and will keep you motivated to complete your task.

2. Have your injury checked – one way or another you will end up getting an injury during your training probably due to lack of discipline or simply an accident. This will definitely stop you or slow you down in your training. I have been nursing my injury for almost two months prior to my first marathon, and as I mentioned in my other blog, I went to see a doctor specializing in sports medicine to get his professional opinion and to be guided on what to do for it to completely heal and recuperate. It is important that you attend to your injury for fast recovery. I underwent a physical therapy.

3. Cross training – if you can’t run due to an injury, do cross training on bike or swimming to keep you in good shape. In my case I did a bike cross train and rode an equivalent distance of my planned run. For every 1km of run, I was doing 3.5km of bike. Staying fit to improve endurance despite of an injury will help you finish that extra mile.

4. Mental preparation – it is equally important to prepare mentally for a marathon. With the injury, you would definitely lose a lot of running mileage which might lead you to think that you are not ready to conquer a full marathon. In my case, I had an on and off runs and my longest run was 21km. I have not reached a 1,000 km mileage and was really in doubt whether I can finish a full marathon. Based on what I read from magazines, blogs, and even experience of other runners, it is important to build mileage to help improve your foundation in long runs. With all this affecting your confidence, the arsenal that you can use is your mental ability to overcome all the obstructions that you had during your training. At the end of the day, mental focus is all that will matter.

5. Maintain focus in your objective – during my marathon, I only had one thing in my mind, to finish my first marathon without any injury. I accepted the fact that conquering it would be difficult and that I have to work hard for it and feel the pain if I really want to meet my objective. I have thought of all the reasons why I am doing it and that was all that matter to me. Even my doubts were all out, I did not bring it with me and made sure that it will not slow me down. I maintained my focus and it was effective.

6. Do not entertain negative thoughts - never entertain any negative thoughts during your run. For the whole week prior to the run, I stopped worrying about the lack of mileage and my injury. The moment you accept negative thoughts such as feeling the pain, or doubting if you can finish, and worry about any discomfort while you are running, you will lose the grip and would end up up quitting. So stay positive and BELIEVE that you can do it..

7. Enjoy the run – Simply enjoy and have fun. Meet new friends and enjoy the scenery and the environment.. You will be amazed that you will not even notice that you are almost near the finish line.

These are some of the key inputs that helped me finish my first marathon. There are a lot of experiences from other runners and I think some of you will agree to this. For non-runners, you may learn from this and apply to your daily life. It can be from your work, family, or anything that you are busy with right now. Set your goals, prepare, and believe that you can do it. It works!

Enjoy life, Enjoy Running!

Marathon Challenge.. Let's do it!

It's been a month since my last blog as It was a busy month with all the preparations on our upcoming strategic planning in early December. After the QCIM, I have mentioned that my ITBS came back and suspected that a shin splints is developing. Obviously I was so frustrated as injury keeps on coming at me. A day after the QCIM, my best friend Jay gave me a call just to tell me that I can still do the full marathon (given that I had an on and off training). The call was just to remind me to stay focused and believe that I can still make it (maybe he sensed that I was in the brink of giving up the Marathon). Yup, you read it right, a Full Marathon, crazy huh? I will be participating in the 2009 Standard Chartered Bangkok Marathon in Nov. 22. Will write about this later.

Meanwhile, for the past month, I have been nursing my injury, went to a sports doctor and had my knee and leg checked. Three injury hit me, ITBS, shin splints, and a pulled hamstring. I was advised to undergo Physical Therapy with the following procedures; Electrical simulation, deep ultrasound, stretching, hot compress and strength training. In between my therapy, I am doing a cross training using my bike to keep me fit and catch up with the lost run training. I am using a ratio of 1:3.5 (1 km run = 3.5 km ride), to still get the mileage in terms of cardio fitness. I was determined to get well so I strictly followed the procedure and even do the stretching and strength training at home. Pressure was heating up as the marathon date is coming near. But I just simply focused and believed that I will get better. Two weeks after, I did a test run and luckily I finished 8km without much pain. It got me motivated to and stayed focus on the healing process. Then on the same week, I did a 16km long run injury free! Still went on with the therapy and hopefully I can conquer the marathon challenge. Given that I did not earn much mileage in my run, I was hoping that the cross training would help in terms of endurance. Confidence and a strong will is keeping me focused, I hope this can compensate with my physical weakness. Let see what happens next..

Here I Go Again

It has been a very frustrating and depressing week for all as we experience the wrath of Typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng. We have in our own little way contributed in supporting the victims through donations, volunteerism, and setting up of fund raising events. No matter how big or small your contributions are, it is well appreciated by our brothers and sisters. Let us be thankful that we are blessed as we have become a blessing to others.

On the running side of things, it has been frustrating for me as here I am about to tell you that I have been logging slow mileage in the past two weeks (12km a week after Ayala Eco Dash, and 10.8 km last week). And why? it's because of an ITBS on my left knee. Again?!? Yes, again, I had this on my right knee and now its my left knee's turn. After the Ayala Eco Dash event, I was hoping that the pain will not continue, but unfortunately, I felt the pain to aggravate when I did my easy run 2 days after the event. I had to cut short my run and did not push thru with my training plan. Hoping that it was better last week, I tried to do a very slow pace at 8:10 min/km but I can feel that my knee is not ready as I can feel pain starting to build up as I reach the 4 km mark. Rested on Wednesday and Thursday last week and did a slow pace again on a Friday, but same thing, knees are not ready. Rested last Saturday and did a cross training on my bike Sunday, and no success at all since I can feel pain in my hips down to my knee. I had again to cut short my ride and joined my running buddies for breakfast at Paseo Sta Rosa since they just finished the scheduled LSD run that day.

I can chose not to post this as it becomes so embarassing on my part already. But I guess I just have to post it so that I can be reminded again of this experience, and that other newbies learn from this. The following are potential causes of my injury (then again, could be the real causes of it).

1. Running too long /fast too soon - yes I was guilty of this, in the beginning, I was so hyped and impatient that I had to increase my mileage and speed sooner than required. I actually tried to increase my mileage more than 1o% per week.

2. After being on sick bay for a week with no base run, I joined a race (Mizuno Run) and I did run too fast too soon (at least for my pace).

3. I was an overpronator as checked in Runnr store where I had it analyzed. I was advised to buy a stability shoes, and so did I.

4. Running downhill too fast I thought was a good idea, but when you are coming from a no run week, refrain from doing it as you become more prone to injury.

5. I guess this time I had the same mistake as I was guilty of item 2. I only had 6km a week before the race and there I was conquering my first half marathon. I did finish and most runners that commented said that it was a good finish for my first try.

6. Impatience - this is one thing that newbie runners are prone to (maybe not).

7. Lack of stretching exercises - there were times that I come to a race just in a nick of time and find myself not stretching properly.

8. Weight - I am currently 16lbs heavier based on my height. I used to be 26lbs heavier before I started running in March. This has a factor right?

This is my 3rd week and I hope I can start running again, Im doing my ITB stretching exercises and also went to the unconventional solution (hilot) as described by i2runner. I hope I can recuperate fast as I am getting so frustrated and depressed already. Feel free to suggest and a bit of motivation will surely help.

A Sunday with No Run

It was a good week for me as I was able to do my training plan for 2 consecutive weeks now free from any injury. Today was supposed to be my 21k run but unfortunately bad weather stepped in and it was raining hard. I woke up ahead of the alarm because of the strong rain. The group (Gone Running Club) were all scheduled to go to UP Los Banos to do our runs, but we decided to cancel and do it tomorrow. I went back to bed, slept and found myself waking up at 8am! Cool weather had me sleeping like a baby.

Prior to today, I was carbo loading and was preparing my self for a long run. Had to mentally condition myself as well since the farthest that I ran was only 16km. But I am focused in my training plan since I only have 12 weeks left for my first Marathon. I skipped a lot of training weeks due to my past injuries and I hope I am able to get ready before the race day.

As of this writing it is still raining here. I went to my hometown in Los Banos, Laguna and had lunch with my parents. Feasted with "Lapu-Lapu" and "Laing" and had my favorite coffee crumble ice cream for dessert. I now smell my sister cooking spaghetti.. Too tempting, I should really run tomorrow otherwise I will just gain more weight with all the carbs that i I have been taking. Since this morning, my body was too eager to do some exercise to burn up some fat.. I might be hitting the gym tonight instead. Meanwhile, will enjoy time with family. Cool weather..

Farewell Tita Cory

Today, the nation brings Tita Cory to her final rest. Much has been said about our former President. How she has unselfishly offered herself to serve the country with undying devotion and commitment. She has shown true leadership with utmost integrity and honor. I give my respect and honor to you Tita Cory. As a way of honoring you, i will be running today as a sign of my gratitude to what you have done for the Country and the Filipino people.

She has been a true mother of her kids and a mother of the Filipino people. Indeed true leadership began at home. A simple person who has a strong family value has lead Tita Cory to lead our Country. Let me share with you today's leadership lesson from the book of John Maxwell's Leadership (promises for everyday), which i find relevant on the leadership trait of our former president. Here it goes:

LEADERSHIP BEGINS AT HOME

"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorities in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." - Joshua 24:15

"As a Leader, where should your influence begin? A good answer can be drawn for the life of Joshua. For him - as for other leaders wanting to make an impact beyond their lifetimes - it began at home. Before anything else, Joshua took responsibility for the spiritual life of his family. Joshua's leadership of his family was more important than his leadership of country. It may sound ironic, but when leaders put their families first, the community benefits. When leaders put the community first, both their families and the community suffer. Starting at home is always the key to affecting others in a positive way. Because Joshua had his priorities right and had led his household well, he gained credibility to lead the entire house of Israel.

If you have a family, put them first in your leadership. There's no legacy like that of the positive influence leaders can exercise with their family." - JOHN C. MAXWELL

May you rest in peace and your leagacy lives on. Thank you Tita Cory. Farewell..

Walk the Talk

My weekday run last week was good, slow and steady as I was trying to catch up with my training plan. Good thing I was able to finish all my distances without feeling any pain on my right knee. So I figured, my knees are well so I decided to do my LSD run yesterday with my friends. The route was the same, Paseo - Nuvali – Lasalle - Westgrove - Paseo. We assembled at 4:45am (supposedly 4:30 am) in front of Jollibee at Paseo de Sta Rosa. At the same time, we met the Takbo.ph runners who were about to do their LSD run at the cardiac hill-upac trail. Neil (Crashnburn) was there and introduced me to some of the members. I’m sure they had fun exploring the trail.

My scheduled run yesterday was 21km. The first 4km (turn-around point at Nuvali) was good, conscious about my knee I slowed down my pace and was hoping that I could last the whole distance. However, I got frustrated reaching 8km (back to paseo) as pain started to show up in my right knee. I slowed down on my way back from Nuvali, then at 9km (in front of Technopark), pain was unbearable so I decided to walk and proceeded to Lasalle route and back to Paseo to finish 15k distance. I knew I did proper stretching before the start of the run. Thinking that my weekday run was pain-free, it made me believe that I am ready for my long run. However, I didn’t event finish a straight 10k. Then I ask myself, what’s wrong? Was it the way I run? Was it my shoes? My posture? My weight?, or simply I needed more time to rest to recuperate?

Why am I even writing this? I have noticed that since I mentioned my injury after the Mizuno run in June, I have never really recovered. I guess I never learned, and I actually feel embarrassed posting this. But I figured, this is my journal and I would someday look back and see how I progressed, and at the same time this experience would become useful to new runners like me and hopefully don’t make the same mistake I did.

Being persistent is good, but being patient is better. I have heard friends and runners told me that I might be doing it “too fast and too soon”. This is one of the common pitfalls of athletes, regardless of what fitness regimen they are in. They tend to push themselves to the limit to achieve their goal fast. Losing weight, or being able to run a long distance, or to run faster will not happen soon because you simply believe that you can. I am an optimist and somehow I realized that though attracting positive thoughts are good, it has certain limitations as it does not guarantee that you can achieve your goal by simply believing. You have to listen to your body and put discipline really on how you balance your training.

My body may have given me signs to slow down, and this injury might be one of it, and I refused to listen. Prior to my commitment to pursue running, I was very active in mountain biking (until now). I have my weekday ride in the morning before going to work at least 2 times a week plus a long ride every Saturday. I have even experienced “hitting the wall” due to lack of preparation in one of my ride (lacks sleep, bad stomach, lacks energy). After a week of rest, I went on again with my bike routine. I am very active and always busy, enough to realize that I am overdoing it. By pushing yourself, you are not honing your body, but instead destroying it. I often tell some of my friends to stop smoking as it will destroy your body eventually, but I realized that I have become the cigarette of my body as I refused to listen to slow down and rest. I thought I was doing it right, but instead I was overdoing it.

As I was talking to my friend Mike (The Transformer) earlier today, he reminded me of the question, why do you run? I have just recently asked my co-members in “Gone Running Club” this question so that each one can define for themselves the reason why they do it. I remember answering this question before that “Aside from being fit and healthy, it gives me a moment to think clearly, it is freedom when you run. Likewise, the joy of running simply allows you to take control and brings out the best in you.” Apparently, it has given me a different perspective, the competitive side of me began to overshadow the main reason why I run. It took me out of focus, and the pressure of achieving a specific distance over a period of time has been the motivation on why I run, and I realized that I am not enjoying it anymore. The injury simply prevents me from enjoying it as it keeps me sad, frustrated, and sometimes hopeless.

All these things I knew from the start, I even advise my friends not to push themselves hard, not to start “too fast , too soon”, get enough sleep, focus, and I can go on. However, I realized that I am not doing it myself. I maybe a good adviser and motivator, but then again, I realized that I was not walking the talk. Sometimes people are reminded to slow down or stop when they feel pain or when they are too exhausted to enjoy what they are doing. Too much excitement and motivation sometimes gets in the way especially If you don’t listen to your body. In a way, it is better to experience a fall in order to better understand what you are trying to share with others.

The Knight will rest and will recuperate. He is humbled and will go back stronger and wiser.

Being Positive

When was the last time that you missed an opportunity because you have doubted yourself whether you can or cannot do it. Are you now wondering what could have happened if you have at least tried and believed in yourself? Surely there was a moment that you doubted whether you can finish a 10k run, a half marathon, a full marathon, climbing a 10km uphill using your bike, or even taking a bigger responsibility in your work. And because you don’t have the confidence to do it, you let those precious opportunities pass.

Being a pessimist sometimes manifest in what you do or say without you noticing it. And at times it attracts negative vibes that affects your surroundings. You rarely smile, you are restless, stressed out, and always in a bad mood. You end up feeling sad, lonely, incompetent, and inefficient. There could have been an event were you have failed and that made you more insecure or doubtful of your capabilities. What is worst is that it gets in your head and you see yourself struggling to get out of that nightmare. It becomes a hindrance to your success. Picking yourself up from a fall is the only way to do and start all over again.

In most instances, you hear encouragement from among your friends, relatives, and people close to you. At times, you end up NOT listening because you think that you are not like them, and not everyone is capable of doing what others can do. You also say that it is easier said than done. These are sometimes the common reasons of people who have a very low self esteem. But really, we can only say that it is easier said than done, if we actually start trying it, otherwise you will never really know.

Attitude plays an important role in being positive. We all have the power to choose in every thing that we do. We can opt to stay happy, determined, confident, secured, and enjoy a happy and fruitful life, or the exact opposite. If you have a positive attitude, you will have an open mind and better control of yourself. If you can conquer a 10km run, a full marathon, and an exhaustive work out, then everything that you do becomes easy as you know how to deal with the struggle and pain of it.

Here are some things that can help us in staying/being positive;

1. Set your goals – important to have one as this drives you to become your best. Everything you do is aligned in achieving it.

2. Stay happy – a happy attitude sometimes change the way we handle challenges and obstacles.

3. Be prepared – in most cases, battles are won when you are prepared. You are equipped and in control of the situation. You can easily find solutions to obstacles and outright decision can be made. This help boost your confidence.


4. Understand your weakness – learn to face your weakness and find a way to overcome it. Believe that you will and can change it.

5. Lose weight – a healthy and lean body builds up confidence.

6. Stay away from negative environment – this is very contagious, stay with positive people and learn to influence others.

7. Project a positive aura – It has to manifest in you, always have that “can do” attitude.

8. Keep it cool, listen, and take action.

9. Learn to motivate self and other people.

10. Start running! – you will be surprised of how it changes your perspective.


“Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.” ~Francesca Reigler

I Can't Wait..

It's been two weeks since I was on sick bay, and yes, going on my third week without any running or biking. I' hope I get my clearance from my doctor on saturday when i see him. I'm supposed to join the Mizuno Run on sunday to improve my PR, but i guess I have to train again.

Likewise, I will be missing the MTB ride on saturday at the shotgun trail in marikina. Too bad, cause everyone will be there for the ride. It would be the second time that i will miss this trail. I guess, i will have to sit it out this weekend.

In the meantime, I will have to get a lot of rest and start revisiting my training program. I plan to do running on weekdays, at least 3 times a week, and biking on a saturday. One thing noticeable is that I have improved my biking when I started running. It was easier for me to climb uphill and felt that my lungs are more able sustain the long ride. It was a good cross training for me. But obviously, I have to start over again and that's why its important that I get the right training program for me. Likewise, it is also important to revisit my food intake to support my training. Would appreciate any suggestion from the experts on how you sustain your training program.

I can't wait to go out on the trail and start running and biking again. My shoes can't wait to stride with me, my bike can't wait to climb the hill and get dirty on the trail. I can't wait to use my new Garmin 405 who has been wanting to join me in my runs.. I just can't wait....

Down on sick bay

I guess i over did it. Yes, i was not feeling well since thursday, a day after a strenous work out in the gym. I was so hyped during the work out and felt i had so much in my tank which forced me to extend my workout (bad!). Not feeling well on a thursday and decided to go half day on a friday to rest.

Then saturday came, much awaited day as we are bound to try the bike trail at the Lamesa Eco Park. Wake up 4am, feeling better, however tummy was not doing well. Still went on as planned. My tummy was not cooperating and that made me worry. But thought gatorade will do the work for me to hydrate so I still continued as planned. I was excited with the ride as I heard that the single track was good and my Trance will definitely enjoy the ride. We unloaded the bikes, inspected it, and geared up. Then off we went to the trail.

The first 5 minutes was a very fast pace, going down and some short uphill, the adrenalin rush was so immediate. I was enjoying it, but felt that i dont have the usual power in me. As soon as we first stopped to rest, that's where i felt dizzy, felt blood rising on my head, and partially blacked out (i guess) cause i felt that i was asleep for a second there.. The guys immediately attended to me, handed me over energy bars and told me to walk and rest for awhile.. When i felt better, i decided to proceed, had 3 more stops and then i decided to call it off as i felt i cant make it.. after 7km of ride i went back to the base to rest. I was sad cause i was not able to explore the trail, but there's another time for it.. I should have not proceeded in the first place to think that i was not feeling well already.

As i went to the base, i saw runners there, who just finished their training. They were friendly and offered me banana and gatorade. Had a short chat, but i was really feeling dizzy.. They were preparing for the TNF run this weekend. Then another group of runners (i think more experienced) started to arrive one at a time.. They were likewise preparaing for the TNF 100. They all seem determined to conquer the race and have actually been preparing for it. Good luck to all runners who will join the TNF100.

As for me, have to learn from this again, though my mind is willing, my body needs more preparation. Need to take proper rest, load up before any activity, hydrate, eat the right diet, and get good amount of sleep. This should not stop me from continuing my training. I will have to be careful and plan well my training. Hopefully, i can share with you the trail experience in Lamesa Eco park next time.