When Pojie first started the idea of doing Long Slow Distance (LSD) run from Tagaytay to Sta.Rosa over takbo.ph thread, I immideately signed up. While I understand that most of my readers are runners, I want to give new runners a quick idea what an LSD is. The main benefit of a long slow run is to develop aerobic resistance. This differs with medium paced training runs  and with tempo runs which develop aerobic power. This aerobic resistance gained from doing long slow runs is the fundamental building block on which your ability to run a long distance at a sustained speed in a race is built. If you’re gearing up for a marathon race (which I guess most of us at takbo.ph will do this October), LSD is a MUST for all of us. Two more benefits are development of blood circulation system which allows your lungs to move more oxygen to the muscles that need it and, and my favourite one, it burns more internal fat efficiently! FYI, our muscles usually use glycogen as a source of fuel, but during an LDS run,  this runs out and the muscles start to use fats as fuel. It is for this reason why most marathoners have super sexy legs and slim body structure.

Now going back to our LSD, we plan to start our run at 4:00 am to avoid the afternoon sun. By Pojie’s estimate, we should be able to reach Sta.Rosa Laguna by 9:00am. Luis and I decided that we will park our car in Laguna where Doc. Eric will pick us up and drive us to his place in Mendez Cavite. However this was not followed so we ended up going to Laguna with his car while I left mine at Laguna.

Eric showed up around 3:30am and we were able to reach his grandmother’s place by 4:20am.

The street from Doc Eric’s place to the main road is full of dogs no one from the team dared to run. For readers abroad, we have dogs here belonging to a breed called Askals. They are ferocious, respects no one, bites every running souls and are usually noisy at night. As we don’t want to deal with these dogs, we walk all the way to the main road

After surpassing that small and very dark street full of dogs, we start our running session. As we started very late (5:00am), we decided to up our pace 8m/km until we reached Tagaytay Rotunda. It was at this point I somehow got a foreshadowing that this will not be a typical slow run but a tempo run, and boy I was right after finishing this 27km run.

Our greatest fear the Sun rises early that day. We ran faster at this point to reach Tagaytay Rotunda.

I decided to take a quick rest in a restaurant somewhere in Tagaytay road that sells Ostrich, Steaks, Ostrich again and Burgers. The owner of this establishment decided that a Bridal car in front of this restaurant is sure to catch attention. Sure it did catch my attention!

Before we reached Tagaytay Rotunda we met Jinoe and Jerry.  Yes, thats them in the middle of Tagaytay road where speed monsters bikes were also travelling that early morning.

The road from Tagaytay Rotunda going to Sta. Rosa area is full of surprises. I must admit it was my first time to run that road (the farthest I’ve traveled by car in this place is Picnic Grove area) and so I did not waste no time taking pictures of everything I see.

We didn’t run together as one group but instead ended up with subgroups. This is the first group led by Ultraman Jerry. Later on, I ended up almost 1 kilometer away from them as I spend quite a lot of time taking pictures and searching each stores for Gatorade while running this road. The next group following me would be Poj groups, 2 kilometers away from me. If my memory served me right, I was running alone for almost four kilometers that day.

I can only imagine how tough it is for a women to do an LSD. Imagine if they suddenly feel the need to pee, they have to enter an establishment (e.g restaurant, store etc) just to relieve themselves. This treacherous road we traveled have no such establishment and so, some of us just have to look for a special place to pee.

We finally reached Sta.Rosa around 11:10am.

We still have to run 9km more to reach Mhel’s place. However, it was just too hot we can’t do it anymore. But as expected on how running addicts would normally behave, some of us still ran!  Those who ran were Pojie,Jerry,Mhel, Quennie, Carly and Raymond.

We reached Mhel’s place and feasted on what could be the best arozcaldo in the world ever made.

And finally, class picture with the rest of the team.

As with my previous postings, I always put my “lessons learned” every time I run. So here they are:

1. When doing LDS, its always best to run with a group. The camaraderie and encouragement you get is enough to continue your passion. I say this based on my experience. I did my solo 20km run from Dasma to Silang and I could say it was boring. Running with a group is more fun!

2. Use a comfortable running shoes on your LSDs. Better, invest one that is specifically geared for your long runs.

3. Ensure you’re properly hydrated, load lots of choco mucho/gels or sports beans on your hydration belt.

4. Better if you know of any available toilets along the road you’re planning to run on.

Alright that’s all folks! Hope to see you on our next LSD!