Goodbye! Goodluck! PHILSPADA TEAM!

I have been training in Pasig Ultra Track for almost 3 months now. In those 12 weeks I have known the regular folks there.... Senior Citizens brisk walking while talking about politics, High School track teams doing their workouts along side with the usual UP and JRU track team. And there are the regular folks just wanting to stay fit or loose some weight.

Coincidentally the Philippine Sports Association for the Differently Abled (PHILSPADA) team started their training, for the South East Asian Games in Thailand, the same time as I did. They were my training day classmates. By 5am they are already at the usual hangout corner at the track, some still catching a snooze while others are just chatting while waiting for either Coach Buen or the light of the sky to arrive first. :) By the time I'm already doing my workouts they are just starting their warm-up routine. I'm not really sure how long they train but they do train twice a day. Once you are with them you won't even ask what their disabilities are.... You will only be amazed at their abilities.

Let me show you what our typical morning training looks like.....

note::: If by any chance you are from any other countries in the South East Asian Region (Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia......) ...... BE AFRAID.... BE VERY VERY AFRAID......

- That's Andy, our bet for the High Jump and Long Jump Event -

- New shoes! Care of the Philippine Sports Commision -

- The 3 coach, Trying to check if the thrower's chair can be modified for the athlete on the left -

- "parang building yan kid, di ka makakaabot sa 5th floor hanggat di ka dumaan sa madaming hagdan... easy lang at aabot ka rin sa mga pangarap mo"

- she's no athlete.... but she's there everyday supporting her husband (previous photo, guy on top left)-

-waiting for their turn, time trials-

-our 4x100m relay team, andrew, ryan, pacaldo, delbert-

-stretching before warm-up-

- Coach Joel-

- just another beautiful day, keeping the long jump sand box soft-

Today is their last training day. They will be leaving for Thailand tomorrow morning. Ok I have to admit..... I'm a bit sad that their going. But at the same time happy cause I know for a fact that these guys will be kicking some serious @ss on the track! :) GO TEAM PHILIPPINES!!!!





Oh and did I mention that the JRU team trains there... It just so happens that she's the head coach. :) Madam Elma Muros - the heptathlon queen. I managed to be thick-faced enough today to ask for a picture with her. She laughed at me and even directed the shot to be front lit. hahahahahaha

Clark Marathon 2008

mY 4th FAILED attempt in breaking 20minutes in the 5km event.

The weather was perfect. Training was ok. Rest was also enough.
I guess it's just not my time yet. I guess I'm not ready enough.

Unofficial race time: 21:12.06

"The record will be broken, I just don't know when...." -haile gebraselasie

Will skip Subic on Sunday, and just prepare for the PSE BullRun on the 27th.

New Year's Resolution

Ok so everyone's already made their list.... I hope I can accomplish the following:

1. Stick to my training plan. - no more extra training runs
2. Stay in bed and rest when there's a shin pain from a hard workout.
3. Up my current 40km weekly mileage.
4. Learn how to conquer that last 2km pain on every race.
5. Follow the 10% increment rule in training. :)

Goals for the year:

Get that sub 20minute 5km PR
Join and break my 40minute 10km PR
Do a 3:30 Marathon

Holiday Sins.......

Ok, so I cheated......

But I never denied the fact that I have a hard time loosing weight due to the fact that I like to munch on anything that I fancy. Let my new years entry post be a foody blog. Every time I would go home to the province I have always missed eating our province's famous Halo-Halo restaurant since it was located well....... a very near 20 miles (3 towns) away. What I didn't know was that the owner's only son expanded the family business downtown.

Take note: I only knew this fact 6 days ago. And since then I have long been like a prodigal son in his homecoming. Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!

Ok confession time........

I had 2 bowls today, 2 yesterday, 1 the other day, another bowl the day before that another, and another............. This thing is a major treat! Sorry to bash, but Chowking's, Razon's and Aristocrat's offering simply cannot compete. I'm not a good writer, I have a very limited vocabulary and I'm already lost for adjectives for this sinful treat.

DJC Halo-Halo is almost the same age as our family's restaurant 20++ good years in existence. They have started business in the town of Tiwi, Albay. And now 2nd generation owner John opened business inside the LandCo developed business district in downtown Legazpi City, Albay. For only 60 bucks, I guarantee that you can get a taste of heaven. :D

Merry Holidays!!!!!!

Christmas this year is truly wonderful this year.

Santa gave me a new pair of............. Legs! A stronger and healthier one. :)

Thanks Santa! Promise, I'll always be a good boy.

LSD days are here again......

I hope everyone's still training throughout the holiday season. I'm stuck in the province enjoying every single training day. The change in scenery and terrain definitely helps.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Diet.......

Ever since I started training I noticed that my diet also needed a few kicks here and there. As what I learned from the Chasing Kimbia Documentaries and Ka Totoy, I need to add more fruits into my diet. And so I did......

Pre-Workout Snack 4am:
1pc Dole Banana (c/o 7-11 pioneer)

After workout recovery snack 730am:
Pineapple (half) and Watermelon (quarter) (c/o Mang Jun )

Breakfast 9am:
Rice Meal

Lunch 12:30pm:
Rice Meal(light serving), 1pc banana

Afternoon snack 4:30pm:
Rice Meal(light serving)

Dinner 9pm:
Rice Meal, Pineapple (half), Protein shake (if I'm not lazy to prepare)

I try to avoid salty and sweet cravings but always fail. hehehe Thanks to my ever favorite Chippy and any dark chocolates. Coach Jo insists that I need to loose about 10lbs more to get into a good race weight. I'm just not sure if I'll be focused enough to say no to the tasty treats. :)

I'd like to compare notes and see just how much of a pig I am compared to the rest of humanity. Kindly log your diet, I don't mind if you post anonymously :)

DND Race, h@ppyFeet Xmas Breakfast, Training......

Who thought that we would finally win a podium place on the LAST possible race of the season??? Well apparently Joms, Jaymie and I did win 3rd place on last Sunday's DND-Gintong Pangarap 21km Relay Race.

The race is composed of teams of 3 (2male-1female). Each would run a 7km loop to complete the half marathon distance. For a more detailed race recap visit jaymie's blog.

After the awarding ceremony, Jaymie had to go home for family day. Joms and I headed back to the h@ppyFeet Christmas Breakfast at Dampa-Pasay. Due to my core cramps during the race I opted to skip the free meal after the race. Unlucky me, the food was served 30minutes before lunch. :( I was really hungry by this time, good thing all the chatting and laughing covered up the nausea. hehehehe

All the waiting though was well worth it! When the food arrived, No one dared to chat nor smile. hehehehehe everyone just munched and munched and munched...... Again thank you Mon and Tisha for bringing us there and taking care of the food selection! I have to reiterate.... it was worth the wait! Satisfied with brunch, exchanged gift goodies... we all headed home for a much deserved rest.

I had to skip my usual Monday scheduled training session and opt to just do the usual 5km loop on a really slow pace for recovery. With Coach Jo's permission of course. :)

Tuesday is always a complete REST day for me.

Wednesday was Track Day! Speed Work! Lotsa Fun running circles. I joined the PhilSPADA track team in some of the drills and went on with my workout. This time I was pretty darn consistent with my times. I hope Coach can add some more distance to my workouts. hehehehe I really can't wait for the 400's!

Today, Coach sent me an SMS. My workout, LSD! and I'll be doing it all alone this time. (scary!!!!) Of course for you healthy folks it's just an LSD session..... but for me! That's a real, real, real scary session.... Brings back lots of awfully (literally)painful memories. I went out a bit late this time.

6am ::: turn-around point SM Mall of Asia.
Target time: 60minutes
Workout: LSD 50minutes, 10minutes 10km pace.

I did just that and I couldn't believe my legs! I can! I can run long already! Now if only I can make Coach give me a GO signal for a good 20km run next week.....