I wasn’t able to beat my previous PR for 10k as expected.
Here’s a guide on how NOT to beat your previous PR:
- After you hear the gun fired, ignore your own pace and observe first all the runners around you. You will start to notice they run fast and so, you try to keep up with them by sprinting a few kilometer just to ensure you stay with the leading pack
- After a kilometer or so, you start to grasp for air as you’ve been sprinting like crazy for more than a kilometer. You start to slow down and began to notice all the people you’ve overtaken minutes ago are now within your reach and are starting to overtake you.
- You began again to increase your pace, however you become too tired to increase no more and so you walk.
- Now you really notice that every seconds, people are running ahead of you.
- You began to think you’ve made a stupid start and you plan to catch up with them later in the race
- Near the final kilometers of the race, you began to execute you’re plan but the road ahead are full of uphills and you end up walking them, as you’re are not prepared for it.
- You see the FINISH sign and you sprint like crazy.
- You check you time and you realized, you didn’t beat your previous record and you feel sorry for your ass.
And luckily, you’re not alone. I’ve committed all those mistakes above *hahaha!*. After the race, a couple of takbo.ph guys were commenting I sprint like crazy like Jinoe (takbo.ph admin) and Luis. I believe they beat their own PR while my sorry ass missed my own record by almost 3 minutes! I couldn’t blame anyone else but myself. However, during this race I noticed I stopped a couple of times as I felt a stabbing pain on my lower back. I also noticed this on my GreenFields race but it was manageable so I just ignored it the entire race. However this time it was so uncomfortable and painful. I plan to see a massage therapist/chiropractor tomorrow to check it out.
To add insult to the injury, running officials released the results right after the race and thought it would be best to call me “AMMY” instead of my name “SAMMY”. See below:
I hope takbo.ph peeps who noticed this won’t start to calling me Ammy on our next run this Sunday!
Now on the race itself, it was a challenging course because of several uphill roads as compared to Greenfields. However, I’m pissed big time when one of the water stations was not able to give us water. The other water stations still have waters on the container but with no plastic cup we (including I) ended up using our hands to drink water from the container. No kilometer markers. At the end of the race, runners were treated with coffee, however it also ran out empty I pity those souls who waited in line for an hour only to get nothing.
One thing I like about this benefit race though is that without the singlet, they were able to bring down the cost of the registration fee. I only paid 200 pesos and it could have been 150 if I registered earlier.
Now here are the pics courtesy of Carlo a.k.a hydraice:
Time to prepare for 21k on Sunday!
Related posts:
i2runner
on May 3rd, 2009
@ 2:04 pm:
Hi Ammy, sorry to hear you haven’t beaten your previous PR. Don’t worry, not all PR’s happen twice within a month. And usually there is a hard training period in between.
admin
on May 3rd, 2009
@ 2:21 pm:
Hahahaha just as I thought somebody will start calling me Ammy! Oh hell yeah, i’m gonna go back to 10k someday with revenge. For now, I jumped ship and I’m preparing for my first 21k on Sunday! Woohoo!!!
Luis Arcangel
on May 3rd, 2009
@ 4:32 pm:
Hi Ammy
Lol. I hope your injury gets better bro, na strain lang siguro.Pahinga muna yan. It was a rolling course and of course when you’re fatigued gravity will get the best of you . The reason I alerted you about the sprinting is out of personal experience ; I did the exact same thing during my very first race. After about 1k I was gassed and it was depressing to see everyone pass me. I felt horrible when I finished too, was walking na. 1:28 ata un lol. Seeing you dart out like that earlier, I was guessing that perhaps after 1k you would feel the effects na. Unless you do tempo runs at a very high level, it would be unsustainable tapos baka nag lactate threshold ka na super early on pa lang. Once that kicks in ang hirap ibawi. Di bale, you have a strong base naman, I’m super confident that once you get the right “timpla” of pacing sub60 na yan hehe. Figure in tempo runs into your routine para you could maintain a strong pace :)See you at Botak bro, good luck!
p.s. The Takbo banner is with you right?
Bong Ortiz
on May 3rd, 2009
@ 10:37 pm:
I admire your sense of humor despite having some setbacks in your running. That’s the right attitude, to enjoy and have fun, and also to be able to laugh at yourself. Most new runners do the exact same thing as you do, myself included. We tend to run too fast early in the race and then we could not sustain the fast pace and end up finishing weaker and slower.
Neil
on May 4th, 2009
@ 2:04 am:
Am na lang tawag ko sa yo. Mahaba masyado yun Ammy eh.
Pacheck mo na yang likod mo. The earlier the better.
Runner45
on May 4th, 2009
@ 2:44 am:
Hi Sam,
Nice seeing you at the Southern Race…..You can grab your two pictures on the run on my blogsite….runner45.wordpress.com.
Take care and get healed soon…
Runner45
timmy
on May 4th, 2009
@ 4:12 am:
baka naman ammy, nabibigla ang katawan mo sa mga sudden changes mo, (from 10k, to 20k to sprinting, to targeting 21-42k in less than a few months of training). sabi nga, listen to your body and what it says. if sabi ng katawan mo may masakit, patingin mo, hassle din yan in the long run pag di na diagnose agad.
wag madaliin ang karera 
there are still a gazillion races this year, no need to rush 
good luck with your pains men!
admin
on May 4th, 2009
@ 7:06 am:
@ Luis: I’ll be back at 10k with revenge. DLSU-D administration just gave me permit to use their rubberized Oval Track and field and I’ll be training there every 5am until 6:30am.. hopefully, I ‘ll be able to increase my lactose threshold and address my speed issues.
@Bong: yeah will be more disciplined next time. thanks for your comments
@Neil: oo nga eh pa check ko..parang nastress daw sbi ni blind massage man.
@Runner45:Hi thanks man!
@Timmy: Oh yeah I think my training was too fast for a newbie hehehee..will mellow this time.
admin
on May 4th, 2009
@ 7:44 am:
@Luis: ah yes the takbo.ph banner is with me.
Luis Arcangel
on May 4th, 2009
@ 10:14 am:
That’s good to hear Sam. And it’s not a speed issue… it’s an endurance and pace thing
Once you build up endurance, then you can concentrate on your pace little by little 
It’s soooo important to have significant build-up before you jump, or else you will end up in a bad spot later on. See you on Sunday man.
i2runner
on May 4th, 2009
@ 10:23 pm:
Hi Sam, good luck with your 21K this Sunday. See you in Botak. That 21K will definitely make you a stronger runner.
I’m a wimp. I’ll only run 5Kms.