If you’re an avid reader of this blog, you would noticed how I would religiously post my race preparations especially my first marathon race where I became so obsessed with it I even detailed my actions on per hour basis prior to the actual start of the race. For this race, I decided to screw my usual pre-race preparation post because I realized however detailed my preparations are, the expected outcome usually never happen because of several factors I don’t have control. However, I always make sure to study my previous race and learn from any mistakes I encountered. Hence in this race, I did some adjustments:

Banana
Pooping twice on your debut marathon race will sure going to destroy your game plan. My mistake from my marathon preparation was that I was eating 3 bananas per day up to the actual race day. Later I found out that eating too much of it can simulate bowel movements. Hence I totally ignore banana on most days but I did eat a small one coated with honey during the race day for my breakfast.

Immodium
I’ve been hearing this from fellow runner bloggers that taking Immodium an hour before the race will ensure no stomach upset. I did try this on Thursday and Friday during my usual morning run and seems to work OK on me. This worked well on the race day as I didn’t experience loose bowel movement. If you should try this, please try it first during your training to see if it will work well on you. NEVER try anything new during the race.

Hydration
During my marathon race, I remember drinking 3-4cups of Gatorade/water for every water station. This made my stomach feel so heavy which probably contributed to having to release my bowels during my last race. So for this race, I probably bypassed five liquid stations but relied more on my hydration belt plus a cup of water from 3 or 4 stations.

As for my race strategy, I did prepare for this one. I reckon that after doing two 5km races (Condura and Air Speed), two 10km races (Greenfield and Southern race) , a 16km (Earth Run), 15km (Mizuno Infinity), a 21km (Botak Paa-Tibayan) and a marathon (Milo 33^rd elimination), pushing for PR this time for my succeeding races will make sense. I was hoping the training I did for Milo and a week before this race will help me improve my disastrous/severely dehydrated 21km finish time of 2:37 via Botak Paa-Tibayan race. Furthermore, I was hoping that my CWX Ventilator tights that I got from Runnr store will provide support to my knees and help keep sweat away from dripping into my feet. The tights did work and I believe this also helped me recover very fast. A review will be posted later.

The race started on time and I found myself running comfortably fast during the first 4km. This is the first race where I did challenge myself to look for potential running targets with the aim of running faster. I would increase my pace once I’ve identified a target then once done, I would slow down and maintain a certain speed, look for another running target and increase my pace again and so on. This would go on for the first 11km until I get tired of it. I know its fun as it gives me “mini-success” during my race, it also motivates me every time I over ran my target but it’s not maintainable. I wasn’t checking my heart rate monitor watch but rather my time but upon checking my heart rate I realized that I was running way beyond my aerobic zone (133-153) and my heart rate would range somewhere between 165-175. I knew right-away that muscle cramp will soon find its way on my legs and true enough; it attacked me along the Lawton-Bayani road. There’s something about this road I hate about. This road always gave me cramps for some reason. I remember fully stopping in this road and applying my ever trusted roll-on Salonpas from time to time. Everytime I would continue my run after a brief stop, muscle cramp would appear every 10 minutes. If some runners dread the Kalayaan Fly-over, I dread more this part of the road! If this road goes further down to Heritage road, I knew I would not make it within my target time. Alas, the u-turn going up was so quick and I soon find my way to the Fort again. Six hundred meters away from the finish line, I was running fast but muscle cramp near my hamstring would soon attack me. This happened three times that I have to stop, do a walk and soon jog. The last 100 meters, I was already running, giving all my best and before I knew it, the finish line was just a few meters away. I saw two ladies ahead of me and wanting to overtake them, I sprint. One of the lady runner (which I later learned was a takbo.ph member) saw me coming from her behind and tried to increase her pace too. Alas, the ruthless running ninja will never give way to a lady for strong finish and so I sprint and overtook her.

After the race, I asked a fellow takbo.ph runner what was his time as I was just behind him and told me 2:26. So if my estimate is right, I finished this race somewhere between 2:26-2:27. A ten minute improvement from my previous 21k race woohoo! Later after the race, we did our usual post-race carbo loading at Jolibee. Unknown to me, Rico, Chris and the gang prepared a mini program to give medals to fellow takbo.ph members who finished 42km run last Milo race. While I understand Milo has nothing to do with it, I did appreciate the fact that my running family recognized the hardship I did to finish my first 42km run.

I went home very happy knowing that I did improve my race and even more, knowing that my running family will always be there to support and encourage everyone to achieve their personal goal.

If you see me sprinting with that kind of face and you happen to be running nearby, run with utmost caution

Emo me receiving Milo replica medal from his hoffness Poj

Me and the Medal

Today, the trend of marathon running has gripped Filipinos like a red-hot fever that’s here to stay! With an estimated average of 2 marathons per weekend in Luzon alone, people are running for all sorts of reasons: for friendship, the thrill of a good challenge, and others for charity!

But with several marathons being conducted week after week, most of these runs have begun to blend into one another.  Even with the constant challenge to break one’s personal best, every run becomes a virtual repetition of the run before. Two questions now come to mind: first, will there ever be a run that truly stands out? And secondly, “What’s in it for the runners this time?”

This is where Kenny Rogers Roasters steps in.  For years, Kenny Rogers Roasters has promoted deliciously healthy eating, supporting a fit and active lifestyle. With sumptuous choices and savory entrées, Kenny Rogers Roasters has long bannered meals that are healthy, yet incredibly delicious and mouth-watering; a testament to their dedication to providing a variety of food choices for people who proactively choose healthy living.

Now, Kenny Rogers is taking another leap forward in its dedication to health - one that is bound shake up a storm!  It is with great pride that we present: The Kenny’s Open ‘09 Urbanite Run! On August 15th at 7:00 p.m., at Bonifacio Global City in the Fort, a truly one-of-a-kind run will take place. And as the name suggests, The Kenny’s Open ’09 Urbanite Run will happen at night!

Think about it! Marathons and fun runs have been popping up all over the city every weekend- for years! Yet at the end of the day, none have truly broken away from the ordinary routine. Sure, everyone has fun; we tie on our running shoes and race to beat our personal best time. Yet, have you ever wondered if there could be more to the convention?

Kenny Rogers Roasters certainly thought so! In the spirit of offering only the very best variety and the freshest choices, Kenny Rogers Roasters is stepping up and setting out, because on the night of August 15, history will be made.

This is your chance to be a part of it. You’re invited to be a part of the first, ever Kenny’s Open ’09 Urbanite Run!

Joining is easy.  Simply stop over at any Kenny Rogers Roasters branch or the new Kenny’s Roast and Grill restaurant at the Powerplant Mall, purchase a P600 Urbanite Run Ticket to Eat, Run and Donate your way to fitness! Secondly, participants, all 18 years old and above, must register their information.

Can you imagine it? Glow in the dark wristbands, sleek jerseys, and Kenny’s key colors of red and black whipping around like a bonfire! With an advanced timing chip system to record runners’ progress and distances of 5/10/15 kilometers, the Urbanite Run is designed especially for the young and young at heart of the Metro.

And it doesn’t stop there!  After crossing the finish line, runners will cap off the evening with entertainment and deliciously healthy eating! With the bang and percussion stylings of Tribo Manila thumping while you eat your favorite Kenny Rogers Roasters meals, you can chat around with friends and actually put up your feet for a real night to remember! And what’s more, there’s a lot in-store for runners who speed by the quickest: exciting cash prizes and cool consolation prizes will be given away.

But throwing a rocking party and carving a place in history isn’t the end of it! The Kenny’s Open ‘09 Urbanite Run is also for the benefit of Hands-On Manila Foundation and the 57:75 Movement. As Kenny Rogers Roasters is dedicated to healthy and delicious choices, both foundations have similarly made it their mission to feed the minds and spirits of the youth.

Proceeds from the Kenny’s Open ’09 Urbanite Run will be donated to both foundations as a fund “racing” to champion the nutrition, sports and recreation of the Hands on Manila and the 57:75 Movement kids.

Watch out for this truly one of a kind marathon, ladies and gents! Look out for flyers and posters to find out more, because The Kenny’s Open ‘09 Urbanite Run is speeding ahead and leaving other runs in the dust!

You can find the mechanics  here.

My quest for a structured training method led me to do some research on Arthur Lydiard’s methodology. I’m not going to copy and paste any contents from the said training program but rather, I encourage you to print and read it yourself during your rest days. Check it out here. As his method is based on balanced combination of aerobic and anaerobic running, you will most likely find this very useful if you have a heart rate monitor watch.

However be very careful when reading it. His training plans are optimal plans, so if your body can handle it then try to follow his program to achieve your full potential. To give you a sample of his training guide, he suggested running with a total mileage of 165 km weekly ? Obviously, he is a huge advocate of running a lot of base miles/kilometers. This meant lower intensity for long times. He said that this running should be done for as long as time permits before getting into any other stages. While you can use it as your base if you want to be a podium finisher, I suggest that you do your own adjustments based on your level of fitness and age. Sometimes it is more important to listen to your body then a plan written down on paper. After reading his plan, I’ve concluded that Lydiard training was more for pretty highly motivated and competitive athletes who really care about achieving their best.

I will try to come out with my “modified” version of his training method and will post it later with the intention of helping myself and my runner-readers improve their performance.

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I was running with Cris Sabal (one of our Athletics representative for Laos-South East Asia games on December) around DLSU-D campus and asked him his training schedule. I was surprised to learn that he and Tolentino sisters trains twice a day every day (not sure if Saturday and Sunday is included). He also told me that they run with a total mileage of at LEAST 150km a week. I didn’t ask him about AL training method but obviously, 150km base mileage a week will help you land in podium! He’s a good and humble man and even offered me to join him in his training so he could dish more tips to me. After his offer, while looking at my body he blurted out “pero mukhang marami kpang tatakbuhin ah, hahahahaha!” I’ll be lost in translation if I translate this to English but what he was saying was that I’m not yet physically fit or not yet in my optimal running weight.

I can only agree with him. I just started running last February and lose 28lbs (from 181 lbs to 153 lbs) in two months as detailed from my previous post. While that particular blog post encouraged a LOT of coach potatoes to take up running to shed some pounds, I have to admit that my weight loss plateau at 153 lbs for two months. Currently, my weight ranges from 146 lbs. to 149 lbs. depending on several factors. My optimal running weight based from my research should be anywhere between 130lbs to 135lbs.

And so, my newest project would be to get rid of extra 10 lbs in one month. Yep, 10 lbs. in one month. I shall post my current weight for the next blog post and hopefully after a month, I should be at least 135lbs.If this becomes successful, I’ll make another blogpost on how I did it. And yes, I’m not going to starve myself to death, do fasting or take ridiculously expensive diet pills advertised on our TV.

Can the Running Ninja do it? Let’s see.

My tender big toenail
A Marathon run brought you a new color
Soon you will be gone
I will miss you my friend,
From deep, deep inside.
So Sad, so Sad…

Five days later and 4 lbs heavier after my debut marathon run last Sunday, I finally was able to do a recovery run this morning at oval track. It was just an easy 7km run and up to this day still reeling from painful toe nail on my right foot. It’s completely red while my other foot’s toe nail has a small red patch on it.

I did a quick search in the internet to know how I got this and here are possible causes:

Tight shoes: I’m not so sure of this as the upper section of my Nike LunarGlide+ has enough room for my toe nails

Downhill running: Big toe is forced against the tip of the running shoe which causes excessive trauma. Same as above, there’s more than half an inch space between tip of my big toe and upper-inner section of my shoes

Toe nails not trimmed properly: Screw me I think this is the reason. After the run, I checked my foot and I noticed an extra 3mm toe nail on both big toes. I initially dismissed this as the cause but after doing more research, I found out that one of the preparations you MUST do before a very long run is to trim your toe nails properly. It doesn’t help when somebody assured me that it will turn black after a week and then falls on its own. It’s funny how much effort I’ve prepared for my marathon only to be greatly affected in a negative way by my toe nails.

Having said that, I’m still proud of it because I consider it as a badge of honor for running a marathon because not anyone can completely finish a marathon here in Philippines dba? Now I’m scratching my head whether I should push through with 21k run on July 19 to join Globe’s Run for Home or just rest..oh well.

The CR incident made me think what went wrong as I don’t want this to ever happen again, much less on a marathon race! I have theories why I have to poop during the marathon race:

• I religiously do my poop session every morning when I wake up. This is not a conscious effort but rather my body just got used to it. I wonder if my brain “remembered” this task and forced my body to execute the act.
• Banana. A week before the race day, I’ve been stuffing myself with at least 2 bananas a day (because 711 offers free cappuccino coffee when you buy 2 bananas ) and at least one banana every morning (as detailed from previous post). It was only now I realized after doing some research in the Internet that eating bananas can increase bowel movements. Very nice.
• Hammer Gel. As it was my first time to try this product on the race day itself, I suspect that it might not be compatible with me. Although I did some research and I can’t seem to find any link, maybe trying another brand (GU) will work.

I’m sure most runners have similar experience and I guess this is one for the book! Now I have my own share of my “crap” runner story to tell.

While traversing the 5th avenue, I find it very difficult to continue my momentum. With an empty stomach, I thought of consuming again another hammer but was too afraid I might again poop. I continued my run and noticed that my heart rate dropped to 145-150 (from a race mode of 155-165) and this made me realized I’m running to slow. Somewhere along Lawton Avenue , one of takbo.ph biker support guys, RJ showed up paced with me. Alas muscle cramps would start to creep on both my legs and I have to stop while RJ helps me stretch my feet. I’m really glad RJ was there with me (man if you’re reading this thanks a lot!) during this moment. After a brief stretching session with RJ, I continued my pace and a nice babe offered me her Gatorade. I said I’m OK and soon enough, I was running faster until I realized that I already left RJ from our usual pace and off I ran alone again.

Somewhere along this road I saw PG guys giving Gatorade and another one spraying Salonpas to their runners. As a true blue Boy Scout, I have my own Salonpas but not the “spray” type. It was just a plastic bottle with a small hole on it. I tried applying it on both knees (as this was where the pain in my legs seemed to concentrate) while using both HANDS to evenly distribute it while at the same time applying some compression. It was such a relief feeling the immediate effect of this product….UNTIL I had to wipe perspiration off my face and guess what…some small amounts of Salonpas liquid find its way to my eyes. I blurted out expletives (Tagalog, English and Bisaya) not worthy of blogging here blaming my stupidity. At this point I was thinking of pouring all the contents (Gatorade red) of my hydration bottles but realized its got some amount of sodium it might just dry my eyes and made the condition worst. But honestly, it still amazed me up to this day how I was able to process that there’s sodium content in Gatorade while forgetting there’s a great deal of Salonpas liquid on my hands that I had just used to wipe my face. It was already raining at this point but not enough to help get rid of Salonpas liquid off my eyes. I prayed the most sincere prayer of my life asking the Lord for forgiveness but begging to send a signal 3 storm on that road targeting just my face. Help came in a few seconds and a nice lady gave me her surprisingly cold mineral water after seeing my face. I consumed ALL of it, slowly washing both eyes and just when I was about to say thanks to the lady, she’s gone. G.O.N.E. I don’t want to concentrate too much on this incident but this made me realize that God is indeed so good to me.

The road going down to Bayani road was the place where I felt so hungry. I courageously tried another hammer and 10 minutes later, I was looking for another toilet to release. Oh no not again! As I couldn’t find any public rest rooms in this road (nor I’m aware if there are any public toilets in this road), I have to thicken my face (is this how you translate to English “kapalan ang mukha?” hahahaha!) and asked one of the bystander if I could get inside her house to do my crap duty. She did allow me to use her C.R and while inside, I could hear her and her kids laughing in the background. After my poop session, I also vomited a huge amount of liquids. I got out after 8 minutes and felt very weak. I continued my slow run and reached a Gatorade station along the road serving the sweetest and what I though like concentrated version of Lemon flavored Gatorade. I was really disturbed of the taste and so I asked for water instead. I met Rico, Migz and Biker RJ along the way. They were already on their way up while I was still on my way to reach the end of Heritage road. Several minutes later I was already at the end of heritage road and I stayed there for 7 minutes applying crushed ice I asked from Milo guys. I looked at my watch and realized that with the CR breaks, various stops and walks I just did, there’s no way I can achieve the 5 hour cut-off time. I already submitted to my fate, I was so down I was already wishing a Milo sweeper vehicle to appear somewhere to “sweep” me away from the road. My aim for this race is 4:59 or 5:00, not 5:01 or above. I was so disappointed I thought of just finishing the race, without so much effort on improving my time anymore.

On my way up back to Lawton Avenue , I saw Doc Roy and gave him my crushed ice in plastic. Seeing Doc Roy was good, he seemed to enjoy the race as he was all smiles when he saw me. I especially love his attire with his green hat matching the Milo green logo I thought he could give Zorro a run for his money. I ran slower and walk my way up with the intention of Doc Roy catching up with me so we can run and finish the race together. Soon enough Doc Roy and I were together and as we traverse Lawton road, support biker Julius and RJ (or was it Ronald) gave us Pocari Sweat and Banana which doc and I shared together. We were talking as we ran/walked the route and we both resigned to our fate that we cannot finish within the 5 hour cut-off time. As we reached the Fort, Carmen and RJ would paced with us as we ran/walk all the way to the Kalayaan Flyover. Soon enough Aries would be running from behind and overtook both of us. My competitive self wants to run now but thought leaving Doc Roy was a major sin. The road from Ayala all the way to Buendia was a test of our character.

Roy asked me how I felt and I told him that I’m disappointed. To be honest, I thought of myself as a source of discouragement to Doc Roy than encouragement as I kept on saying all possibilities that might happen that day. I asked him what was the sense of finishing the race if Milo already dismantled the Finish Line structure, we would be running like idiots with no structures around hahahaha. I opened up the idea of calling one of our takbo.ph guys to get us out of the mess via their car instead of having Milo sweeper vehicles picked us and then send us back to Finish line. Biker Carmen and RJ were both with us and I’m really grateful they didn’t left us because if they did, I might lose hope. RJ was especially encouraging when he told us that one of our 21k runners even if he wasn’t able to finish cut-off time, he was still allowed to pass through the finish line. Just when I was already considering having somebody to pick us up and submit to our fate that this race would be my first DNF in my running career, I began to think of all the hardships I’ve gone through. I did a quick glance of my life and realized that there were many sections in my life where a “mini” setbacks would crashed me down entirely. I realized that I have total control of my situations, and that allowing life’s wind to just course me through is not right. I told myself this needs to stop. And so together with Doc Roy and biker friends Carmen and RJ, we did a couple of run/walks until we reached Roxas Boulevard . Finishing the race now was my priority and my job now is to make sure Doc Roy will not be alone running the race. Rod and Ronald would soon join us along the way. Ronald was especially helpful for the jokes he would dished every 3 minutes and was especially very encouraging in helping us bypass each P&G runners along the way. The road to finish line was long but upon seeing takbo.ph guys celebrating like as if we were podium finishers I thought of sprinting all the way to the finish line. But no, I decided that I will cross and finish the race with Doc Roy.

Congratulations from fellow takbo.ph peeps followed after we crossed the line. Fewer minutes later, I silently sneaked out of the scene and went to one corner where I placed the white towel Patt gave us earlier…and cried. I cried because I’m so disappointed of my performance, but was happy too because I finish my very first marathon. And as I was typing these sentences, tears are flowing now as I rekindle the moment that helped me realized my weakness, strengths, character and resolve to finish a race.

Although I finished it beyond my target expectation, I’m happy to say the following sentence:

I AM SAM, I AM THE RUNNING NINJA and I FINISHED THE MARATHON WITH MY CHARACTER AND INTEGRITY INTACT.

Milo, we shall meet again in the future…..

Hahahaha this is me trying to cover my face (embarassing finish or tears of joy hehehehe)