I’ve been scanning several running blogs lately and I’m beginning to see a trend. Everyone wants to be part of the action. This is the bayanihan spirit we Filipinos are very proud of. I hope there will be more to come. Here’s one email group message I got from Ms. Jai Cortes of Mizuno.

Dearest Mizuno Run Club Members,

Please pray for all the victims of the typhoon Ondoy. We were all caught off guard by the typhoon, and some people lost much more than their valuable possession: those that can’t be measured by money. While we can only pray for some, we can help the others start rebuild their lives. We already dedicated a whole day of our busy schedule to help in the outreach, organized by Ateneo de Manila, last Tuesday, September 29, 2009, but then we learned that in our own company, we have a couple of employees, who were also gravely affected by the typhoon, who literally lost everything that they worked for because of the typhoon. We are therefore dedicating the remaining sessions to help them.

Our 4th session would push through tomorrow, October 1, 2009, rain or shine. We would have an area where you can give whatever you can to the people who were affected. We do not accept cash. In lieu of cash, we would have items which we would sell at cost, and a huge part of it, would go to the financial aid funds for our employees. Those who will buy the items would get a 10% Discount voucher as well as a “free session pass” , which can be used to complete all the sessions, in case you miss one, to get the “Mizuno Privilege Card” or the “Mizuno Run Club Uniform”, if you already have the card.

For Donations, please bring:
Rice
Canned Goods
Water
Toiletries
Housewares
Old Clothes
Blankets

Thank you so much. God bless you and see you Thursdays!

Keep on Running! Never Settle… because Mizuno Run Club Members can do more… much much more…

-Jai

Fellow Takbo.ph runner Marga has the following announcement:

There’s more work to be done. Our Foundation, in coordination with the Harvest Foundation has organized an ANGEL BRIGADE. It is a drop off center for calamity relief goods for the people of Taguig, Marikina, Cainta and whoever needs the help.

Marami na pong nag pledge ng donations, kulang po ng volunteers from 7AM-10PM. To receive, re-pack, distribute the goods. I know may mga tatakbo mamaya sa BHS…please help? And to whoever else can donate their time, please call me.

To those frustrated that you can’t get off work and can’t help (for now), it’s okay. Marami pa pong trabahong kailangan gawin. Makakatulong ka rin.

Address: (old Shang Palace showroom, across Pacific Plaza Towers): Rizal Drive corner 4th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City

Maraming Salamat. Hindi po tayo magsasawang tumulong.

Call me so we can schedule shifts for the work: 09228962742/ 09175062742

Love,
Marga

I wish that even after this predicament, we will continue to unite and help one another.

Last Saturday I was at Mall of Asia with family. As if a foreshadowing of things to come, security informed all stores to close their shops around 6pm. We were left with no choice that day but to go home early. And the ordeal began. What could have been an hour of travel from Mall of Asia Pasay City to Dasma Cavite turned out to be a 10 hour travel time.  It was too difficult to travel going back, especially Bacoor flooded up to knee level. People coming from Pasay were all walking already going back to Cavite as most provincial buses going to Batangas were stranded. I reached home around 5am, slept and woke up after 7 hours.

I immediately checked the Internet and I was shocked with the devastation created by this typhoon. As of this writing, more than a hundred perished and thousands were displaced. It’s a good thing Hector of SecondWind store initiated something to help flood victims. Here’s his email:

Greetings friends in the running community.

In light of the typhoon that has left most of us emotionally drained, we would like to encourage the running / multi-sport community to pitch in and help out.

Kindly help us spread the word that we are extending help to our friends who were affected by the typhoon ondoy. Lets maximize however we can help, announcements in your blog, multiply, tweeter, or your status in facebook will be greatly appreciated.

Secondwind will be accepting donations:

- blankets
- singlets, jerseys or shirts
- old footwear
- food
- other items that can still be used

We will be accepting until Thursday (end of day) and will donate to ateneo thru Neville Manaois, PUR team principal, secondwind teammate and ateneo professor. Volunteers to pack and help transfer goods on Friday will be most welcome.

Maraming salamat in advance sa lahat ng tulong na maaari niyong mabigay.

Salamat.

wait for it to kick in -
Hector of Secondwind
email:
secondwind.proshop@gmail.com

site:
www.secondwindrunningstore.com
www.thesecondwind.multiply.com

Hardcore runner Sir Jonel also initiated his own drive. See TKO 250:Takbo Kontra Ondoy . Here’s an excerp from his blog:

team hardcore in cooperation with runradio (nu107, fridays, 9-10pm)  and the generics pharmacy is making its enduruns 4.5.5 (4 full and 2 half marathons)and laguna lake 200k marathon relay a fund-raising event.the runs will be collectively called TKO 250.

enduruns and the laguna race will total 250 kilometers.in particular, these are the races that the team will run; october 11 milo42, october 18 qcim im42, october 24 sim42, october 25 adidas21, november 8 pim42, november 15 timex21, november 28-29 laguna lake 200 (each runner of the 5-man team will do 40k).

for every kilometer we will do, a  prospective donor will be asked to donate 1 peso thus making it 250 pesos as his donation.it is most welcome if you give more than that amount. all donors/donations will be published later.

Fellow takbo.ph member were also not spared from this storm namely Edu, Chelly and Eric. I heard that their homes and personal belongings are soaked in flood water, except Edu who managed to save his Garmin and running shoes

Please let us all extend our helping hands to those who are in need.

Three weeks ago, I joined the Mizuno Run Clinic to help me improve my running form, make friends with other runners and learn new drills from Coach Ige. As I haven’t owned any Mizuno pair before, I was glad and excited when Ms. Jai Cortez, marketing officer at Mizuno gave me the opportunity to review their product. I asked for a stability shoes and so I got this Mizuno Wave Inspire 4. What makes Mizuno running shoes different from other running shoes is its “wave plate technology” .

That gray plastic looking insert in the midsole is what Mizuno calls their "wave plate technology"

The thermoplastic plate (see above) inserted into the midsole allows compression stiffness to be controlled. In theory, controlling this “stiffness” can be achieved by adding variation in its material properties, thickness, amplitude, and wave length of the WAVE plate insert. Cushioning and Stability feature of any Mizuno shoes can be achieved by playing around this bending stiffness. Hence if you check any Mizuno shoes (this feature is also available in its baseball, volleyball, golf, and other kinds of sport shoes), you will notice that each of their running shoes category (stability, neutral, cushion) has different wave plate design and composition.

Now as for this particular pair I’m going to review, Mizuno Wave Inspire 4, it offers better stability than my Adidas Response Stability (I use this pair for races 21km and above) however I felt like the cushioning needs to be improved. When I checked the foam (insole) under the foot, it looks too thin, hence its not as soft as compared to my other running shoes. Another thing I noticed is that it has a unique heel fit.  I’ve heard from several runners that it can take awhile to get used to the Mizuno heel.  Thus, I was expecting the heel to feel odd and I did notice a difference but at no time has it ever bothered me. In fact it feels comfortable when you get used to it. From my experience, I can’t use this for road races as I felt its too heavy for me, my speed might suffer. However,  I would recommend this trainer for runners with medium to low arches to use this one for their longrun especially if training for 21km or 42km.

It looks like the lace can easily be removed during run so make sure they are properly tied.

Insole

Mizuno Insole

In the 3rd session of Mizuno Run Clinic, we did a 5km time trial run that included ALL runners. Prior to this session, I have no training at all, the only run I did was an easy 4km run the day after ROTARun. I don’t know what hit me, maybe a runner’s bug or I still carry the disappointment from the previous race. Whatever alibi I got, I know I will suck big time on this 5km time trial run, my only wish for this race is really just to surpass my previous 5km run record (31 minutes) held many months ago (AirSpeed at MOA). With that in mind, I ran the race and finished it at 26:50+.

Even if this is just a time trial run, I was surprised the Mizuno staff prepared for this. Surprisingly, we were all given race bib number and for each loop that we passed, we were also given a ribbon to signify that we passed each loop. Distance was accurate as far as I’m concerned, all of us marked with race bib number, with plenty of water and gatorade after the race, this time trial run is almost as good as an actual race! Anyway, here are the pictures:

To gain back my running mojo fast, I plan to wake up tomorrow early morning, do a one hour non-stop run within my aerobic zone, do drills followed by speed training and core strengthening. Come New Balance PowerRace on Sunday, I will run “naked”, no uber heavy damp CWX, no hydration belt with heavy bottles, just me and my guts to finally hit sub 2 hours for 21km. See you all on Sunday!

I must admit it. I’m starting to get obsessed of improving my time everytime I join a race. This started with Globe’s RunForHome Race where I was able to improve my 21km finish time by 10 minutes (official time:2:27:3), followed by another improvement of 23 minutes via Eco-Dash (official time:2:04:09) . I joined this race to see how far I can push myself more. When I crossed the finish line, I checked my time and it says 1:43:05. I shouted inside my brain “Man I was able to improve my time by 21 minutes in just 1 week?!!I must be superman!”  and with a medal still hanging in my neck, I went back to run for 2 kilometers more as my recovery run. Honestly, I was more of boasting my medal as it was really my first official “medal” coming from the race organizer. I was giving myself a high-five for couple of minutes, telling myself I could give elite runners a sure run for their money if I train more.

My joy was interrupted when I started to hear words from fellow runner-bloggers who informed me that the race was 3 km short. Any one who looked at me that day would surely noticed the sudden change in my mood. I was disappointed, pissed (this explained why I didn’t bother to attend the post-carbo load with takbo.ph guys), almost thought I was robbed of my time. I spent four days of training to prepare and aim for sub 2 hours and this is what I got. I’ve been broadcasting around the world wide web that its another “improve or DIE” moment at that day. Somebody offered CPR, somebody suggested I should achieve sub 2 first before dying, a lot offered to help me achieve that goal. Was thankful to everyone, but unexpected things happen. Murphy’s Law does not spare anyone.

The organizer already explained their side. I know they really worked hard for this race. I saw doc Lyndon that morning, I was shocked and surprised he was manning the vehicular traffic near the entrace of McKinley. I have to shout and greet him as I passed him through my car. I saw Jinoe, he looked so stressed and was moving fast. I wasn’t able to greet him, he was moving faster than the speed of sound. I wasn’t able to check on Ian Alacar, as I started my stretching exercise followed by some drills as soon as I got out of my car. But I’m sure as hell this guy also worked his ass to make this race almost perfect.

I don’t want to think that I’ve wasted my time joining this race. In fact I learned a LOT of things by observing my run for this particular race. These are:

Running uphill -  I tried pacing with Sir Jovie as we moved uphill. I tried duplicating his fast leg turnover/shorter stride but I find myself very tired after doing so. In my own training, I run uphill by raising my leg much higher to achieve longer stride. I guess I should include hill runs on ALL my training sched to strengthen and increase more my anaerobic capacity.

Heel Strike - I notice that I sometimes shuffle from being midfoot/forefoot to heel strike when I run. Two pictures below courtesy of sir Pio Gaston will show this:

I want to do some changes so that I run like Mark:

I like to run on forefoot as I believe heel striking transmits massive forces straight up the leg to the knee, the hip and the lower back.  I will do more drills especially those that require faster cadence to address this.

My Shoulder - The photo below taken in the latter part of the race reveals that my shoulder is no longer relaxed and tend to hunch (see my left shoulder in the photo below). Ideally, shoulders should be relaxed and square or facing forward, not hunched over. Rounding the shoulders too far forward tends to tighten the chest and restrict breathing.

Hammer Gel works better with either plain water or VitWater (you know) . I noticed that my stomach didn’t react badly with HG and Vitwater combo, now I know.

I may not be able to achieve my dream of sub-2 for this race, at least I’m happy that I was able to observe my form, plus I finally got a medal. See you next Sunday for New Balance. It’s going to be “Improve or DIE” race for me! Yeaaahh man!!!

The Running Ninja with his first official medal