This particular post is in response to Jinoe’s call to help expose our local elite runners so that readers will be more familiar to them and support them for the upcoming international marathons namely Quezon City International Marathon and Subic International Marathon. Honestly, it’s so hard to catch these guys as they normally begin training around 7am where I usually left the oval to prepare myself for work. So I wasn’t able to interview them thoroughly, but hopefully after these two marathons, I plan to do it with some tips on how we “regular” runners can improve more. They already gave a couple of tips to me, particularly Ellen taught me some cool drills, Aileen helped me proper stretching and Cris gave me some points about running form and many others.

The first two pictures here is my “secret” training ground where I do my speed work. Outside this oval track is a 250 meter uphill where I do my hill trainings.

Here are the elite’s pictures. If you fancy staying longer after a race and you happen to reach the awarding ceremony part, you would usually hear these names (if they happen to join the race).

Please let us support them in the upcoming international marathons! I think the best we can do is to cheer for them. As per Cris “Pare laking tulong yun, nakakaboost tlaga ng morale. Dapat ganyan lagi gawin nten sa mga marathon run para tumaas standard nten katulad sa ibang bansa”.

October 17 and 18
Whole Day:  Registration and distribution of singlet and race packet

TIME    ACTIVITY AND EVENT
October 17

11:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M.
adidas  Fashion Show
Cardio Exercise 101
Hydration 101
Carbo Loading 101
Raffle Draws and Games

Hosted by:  Eric Tipan of Jam 88.3

3:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.
adidas  Fashion Show
Cardio Exercise 101
Hydration 101
Carbo Loading 101
Raffle Draws and Games

Hosted by:  Lia Cruz of BTV

October 18

11:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M.
adidas  Fashion Show
Running 101 by Jojo Macalintal
Cardio Exercise 101
Hydration 101
Carbo Loading 101
Raffle Draws and Games

Hosted by Gellie Victor of RX 93.1

3:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.
adidas  Fashion Show
Cardio Exercise 101
Hydration 101
Carbo Loading 101
Running 101 by Ani de Leon
Raffle draws and games

Hosted by Rico Robles of RX 93.1

Last Sunday, I joined Takbo.ph/Reinier Pacific International Aid Station with two goals in mind. First, to cheer marathoners/half marathoners as they crossed our station, to provide fruits, liniment and petroleum jelly, with the latter becoming my main task that day. I must admit my task was very unusual, on the first few hours of the race, I was the only person from the team holding that piece of plastic with Petroleum Jelly on it. There were only a few runners who would passed by to get some slab and apply PJelly on their body. I find it funny as I observed some of them used it. Some runners would apply it in their hands like as if its some kind of hand lotion, some would apply it in their arms and the worst when I heard somebody shouted “nye petroleum jelly pla to! yuck!”. I guess the runner thought it was some kind of energy gel. Although my task was boring, however I did enjoy it and find it very amusing. I had a blast that day as we worked in tandem. Personally I was happy to give back the support I got from them when I joined my first marathon. As part of the support team, I realize that there are things that need to be improved next time:

• We should have some sort of dividing line so we don’t end up occupying a huge portion of the road. Many times a marshal from Milo would be reminding us to back-off a little bit as we’re almost blocking runner’s way.
• When providing fruits, stick to your location and let them decide if they should get it or not. There’s an instance wherein some of us would run after the runner when he/she missed the fruit.
• Provide a location (at least 2 meters away from the main road) where runners can go to have liniment sprayed on their legs. What we did last Sunday was we sprayed liniment on the same road where they ran. We realized later that it made the road very slippery as some liquid from the ointment found its way to the road’s surface. We did a simple “fix” by putting cartons over the slippery section of the road.

I observed as part of the support team was that whenever runners would see us, they would smile back and acknowledged our presence; or raised their arms as if they already crossed the finish line; and from what I’ve noticed they seemed to run faster after they crossed our station! I asked Milo Marathon 42km champ Cris Sabal and asked him if cheering really did help runner and his reply was “Pare laking tulong yun, nakakaboost tlaga ng morale. Dapat ganyan lagi gawin nten sa mga marathon run para tumaas standard nten katulad sa ibang bansa”. From all the runners blog I read, it seems that they love what we’ve done. I hope this will become regular fixtures in our road races.

Another important thing I was able to observe was the marathoner’s form. They are all very lean (especially the first batch of  runners) and muscled! Not a single soul I saw with extra fat layer of skin in their abs. Their calves and quads were screaming mad! Their facial expression as I saw them from afar was relaxed and so with their breathing. Some ran “tall” (e.g straight body) with very quick leg turn-over while majority were leaning forward from their ankle up while running (Pinoy marathoners here are Chi/Pose practitioners?) with a higher back-kick. One thing they have in common, they all seemed to run effortlessly.

I must admit I have this “inggit” factor when I saw them. I promise myself to do good on next year’s Milo elimination round so I can join finals and be part of the very few Milo finalist here in our country. I mean c’mon this is our version of Boston Marathon yeah? So come Milo Elimination next year, I will do all my best to go sub 4…I must be there!

I would like to thank Sir Amado and Reiner Pacific team for the breakfast and delicious lunch that day. Kudos to fellow takbo.ph support people for the help, we did great! I hope we can do this more often!

Pictures by Emil Ancheta:

There will always be races where runners will think the organizer/company is out to increase their bottom line by taking advantage of the existing running boom. Especially those that don’t offer any thing new to satisfy the cravings of us-runners. Those races with ridiculously high  registration fees would only set a trend of expensive races and in the end, will only discourage runners from joining and will help tarnish the image of the sponsoring company - a bad marketing strategy.

However, there will also be races where HELPING PEOPLE is the main driving force. This Sunday, I encourage you to join Rescue Run.  As per Run4Change website, “It isn’t a race. There are no race timing chips, no souvenir t-shirts, no swag bags, no finishers medals, no prize money.” You will join this race because you want to help the victims of Typhoon Ondoy…and you want to meet happy shiny people.

Here’s the detail:

WHEN:
October 10, 2009, Saturday
Assembly: 5:30 a.m.
Race start: 6:30 a.m.

DISTANCES: 3km, 5km, 10k

DONATIONS:
Individual: P200 for any distance
Corporate: P5,000 for 20 runners

VENUE: SM Mall of Asia

WHO CAN JOIN:
- open to all athletes, their families and friends
- anyone who is willing to help while getting a few minutes of exercise
- participants are encouraged to collect pledges from their family or friends who cannot make it to the event

BENEFICIARY:
All proceeds will be donated to the Philippine National Red Cross for the Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) victims. Our goal is to help provide a continuous supply of food and water to the stricken areas.

VOLUNTEERS:
We are in need of volunteers for road marshals and secretariat. If you are interested, pls. contact: RESCUE RUNNERS | 0917 -8374204 | 02-2168521 | rescuerunners@run4change.com

REGISTRATION:
Starts October 5, 2009 at the following venues:
- The SecondWind Running Store (Maginhawa St., UP Village)
- Recreational Outdoor eXchange (ROX, Bonifacio High Street)
- All Terra Bike Shop (Club 650, Libis)
* There will be on site registration starting 5:30 a.m.

Why are we doing this again?

Effort comes in many forms. Not everyone has access to go to a relief or evacuation center to help out. While everyone wants to help or pitch in, their jobs, families and other factors make it difficult for them to do so. We are organizing the run as a means to help. It’s purely voluntary.

Meager resources are poured into the effort. This run is a no-frills run. The only add-ons such as the tents, p.a. system and race bibs are contributions from volunteers that will help in organizing the run, nothing more.

Help isn’t a one-time, big-time effort. Undoubtedly, help is needed immediately. But with the extent of devastation that the floods have caused, the need for aid could be overwhelming. Instant relief won’t give people their homes back. The victims still need the means to rehabilitate damaged property and rebuild their homes. That takes time and a steady stream of resources. The Rescue Run is a means to help in that regard. We hope to be able to provide aid in other ways down the line–be it through food, rehabilitation or construction material.

Now what’s my plan for this race? Will check my fitness level and see if I’ll be able to achieve sub 55 minutes finish time. Sub 50 minutes would be ideal. Over 60 minutes, I will kick my self in the gut (how’s that possible).

If you want to run efficiently, faster and with lesser impact on your body, you MUST learn to improve your running form. Over the course of several months, I’ve studied my own running form by looking at nearby window mirrors to check my form. Although I must admit I look like an idiot while looking at building’s reflective images here at the Fort, it actually gave me a glimpse of my own form while running. I know my running form is still a work in progress as I still commit newbie mistakes especially when fatigue comes in. However, I try to improve this by doing some drills and strengthening my core.

Follow these tips and start improving your form.

Head Movement
When I started running, I have this habit of tilting my head downward to check my feet or my cadence. I realize that this is actually bad in two ways. First, by looking downward you become too conscious of your stride and in doing so you won’t notice your breathing pattern changes immediately- making it harder for you to breathe deeply. So you switch to “shallow” breathing (taking in a small volume of air with each breath, using only a small portion of the total lung capacity) causing side stitch. I understand that there are several causes of side stitch when running and this is just one of the causes. Secondly, you are also using a negative posture, which can have an effect on your running ability as well as your general mood. To correct this, simply hold your head high while looking straight ahead. Elongate the back of the neck so you don’t slouch.

Shoulders
I remember many weeks before my Milo Marathon when I met Coach Ige and commented when he saw me run “you need to improve your form, para kang kuba kung tumakbo eh ”. Since then, I studied, researched and practiced correct running form to improve my running economy. In a nutshell, your shoulders should be relaxed, away from your ears, square or facing forward and not curved over. Rounding the shoulders too far forward tends to tighten the chest and restrict breathing. If you check elite runners during their run in race mode, you will notice that their shoulders show almost no apparent extraneous movement and both always remains parallel to the running surface. I know this because I always observe the running form of fellow townmates and elite runners Cris Sabal and Tolentino sisters at the Oval.

Arms
If you saw Cristine Reyes during Globe Run, you would have noticed how she sway her arms across her chest and sometimes in her belly button. This is bad and you should not follow it (you can still watch her movies though) because it waste a lot of energy as it creates a superfluous lateral movement that rides against your primary objective of moving forward. To correct this, try running with your thumbs out and pointed up for a few runs. This will give you a visual indicator of your hand movements. Personally, I like to run in such a way that my thumbs lightly brush the threaded side-seams of my running shorts. This will ensure that my arms are not moving across my chest. Additionally, keep your arms at 90 degree angle.

Hands
During my newbie days, I love to run in such a way my hand is positioned like its ready to punch unmanageable runners. The main idea here is don’t clench your fists, because it can lead to tightness in the arms, shoulders, and neck. Run with your hands as relaxed as possible. If you want to improve yours, you may want to run while holding a glass or better yet, run as if you are holding an egg (not a hard-boiled egg) and you try not to break it.

Land Midfoot
It still mystifies me when I hear some experienced runners running down hills on their heels. I tried asking heel-strikers why they do it and they gave me several reasons such as “so that I have control when I run downhills, so I don’t fall over, etc”. But in reality, if you heel-strike, you are stopping your forward momentum and causing undue stress on your joints and knees (plus: your ankle is not a shock absorber!). You also tend to over-stride when you heel-strike so avoid this especially for newbie runners. Furthermore, if you land on your toes, you are causing your calves to do too much work, which can lead to shin splints. If possible, try to land on the middle (ball) of your foot, and away from your toes.

Posture
Runners tend to slouch over a bit especially when exhausted. They’ll often look down to a point just a few feet ahead of them causing changes in their breathing pattern. This will increase contact time with the ground and put more impact on your joints. I must admit this is something I’m still working on. Try to develop strong core muscles and try to engage your deep abdominals when running to prevent slouching towards the end of long runs.  The latter is something I always hear from Coach Ige even during drills and stretching. You can also try core work-out exercise from renowned hurdler Lolo Jones below:

Lolo Jones Core work-out from Runner’s World Website
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263–13030-3-1X2X3X4-5,00.html

I hope post helps. Let’s keep on running and improve!