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I have no idea what kind of prayer the organizer of Mizuno Infinity Run 09 invoked, but it certainly worked like a charm. For my readers abroad, its been raining with very strong wind here in Manila from Monday to Saturday. Add to that our weather bureau announcing there would be three straight rainy mornings starting Thursday, we were all gearing up for a rainy race just like Earth Run last Sunday. But as luck would have, Sunday became a very hot and sunny day we all had to endure and conquer. God must be on the side of Mr. Biscocho!

So I picked up Rodel and his brother in Bacoor and parked my car near R.O.X around 4:50am. A couple of takbo.ph guys were already there wearing their signature takbo.ph singlets. We stayed at ROX, chatted, stretched and had some photos taken (yeah we Pinoys are picture crazy). I also saw coach Rio instructing a foreign looking guy which turned out to be Mr. Fernando Zobel de Ayala and upon checking the color of his bib, i realized he’s running 15k too (Update: he finished the race at 1:19!!)! I ran half-kilometer to warm up and immediately noticed tight muscles on my legs. This could be the result of my lack of training the previous days, with last Sunday’s Earth Run being my last run! I ended up massaging my legs to relieve and free up tight leg muscles and next thing I know,its already 5 minutes before the race starts. Just like your typical Biscocho organized race, it started at exactly 5:30am (although some bloggers complain it started 5 minutes earlier).

The first 5 kilometers were easy. Although I felt tight leg muscles, they disappeared after running for a kilometer. I stayed true to my plan by running comfortably albeit a little faster than what I’ve planned. The next 5 kilometers was a struggle already, I was no longer surprised why my leg felt so tired easily, probably the result of having no runs at all. Jinoe catched up with me and we ran together for few meters until I have to tell him that he can go ahead of me. I tried to cheer up all guys I personally knew within the takbo.ph circle by calling out their names. If I see them wearing their ipods, I just wave my hands to greet them. The next 5 kilometers was the toughest part of the race. I felt like I was just dragging my legs and my focus this time is to finish the race not going beyond 1:40.

The starting road going to Kalayaan flyover is where I have to tell my mind to focus on the race. I remember Doc Lyndon near that part of the road and upon nearing him, I said to my self to attack the hill. And off I ran the uphill without stopping until I have to slow down near the topmost section of the road…and stop. I stopped for 5 seconds and suddenly, a macho in his 40’s gently reminded me “guwapo wag kang hihinto, hinay hinay lang, pagpababa na road, hatawin mo na”. In English, “Don’t stop looking for love, It can be found In the strangest places”. OK just kidding, he was telling me not to completely stop, to continue running slowly but when downhill comes, run normally. And so I followed his words of wisdom and ran away from him as far as I can. Lesson learned: follow experienced runners, you’ll never go wrong with them. Hehehehe!

Upon reaching the road near the Finish area, I was looking at the clock and noticed that that the time was 1:39:02 seconds. As my target was not to go beyond 1:40, I ran faster and overtook 8 runners to ensure that I won’t missed my target. Finally, I finished the race 1:39:35 seconds (update: it was 1:42 according to race organizer!), hopefully the race result will show identical time

Regarding the race, here are my observations:

1. Water stations : There were actually two tables available for some water stations if my memory served me right. One table would serve Gatorade and few meters away, COLD water in plastic cups. I’m very particular of this aspect in every race I joined and I’m happy to say the race organizer did this one so well. Cups are already filled with cold water/gatorade, I don’t remember passing a water station where I have to wait for the water guy to fill it up. I’m not surprised why majority of the runners in this race left their hydration belt at home.

2. Marshalls were easily identifiable via their race uniform. Without asking them, they would tell you which road to go. I remember almost running towards a 10k road (I joined 15k race) when a marshall quickly reminded me of my mistake. I believe they were all well instructed and very pro-active. There were also police in uniforms to ensure our security.

3. Kilometer markers are available.

4. No pacers available unlike last Sunday’s Earth Run. If this is available, this could be an almost perfect race!

5. I’m not really looking forward for any loots or give-aways, but the finisher’s singlet is a good idea. At the back of the singlet is displayed “1.10.10″ and we were all surprised to know later that this race is actually a time-trial race and whatever our finish time for this race, it will be compared againts our time on next year’s Mizuno race.

Lessons learned:

1. My testing with negative split for this particular race reveals that I’m not for it. With finish time of 1:42 last 16km and this race (15km) 1:39, my pace was obviously slower. The lack of training probably has something to do with it but from my observation, I already run out of steam and energy in the last section of the race. Positive split might be ideal for me.

2. I noticed that fast runners are slim, I got to lose 15lbs to reach my optimal running weight!

3. Respect the race by training for it if you want a decent time.

Here are other pictures.

Que with Jinoe in one of his funny moments

See you guys next year for another Mizuno race!

This particular race has many firsts for me:

1. First to run under the rain
2. First to run a race with so many uphills
3. First to try drinking 100 Plus (which I did not realize was carbonated)
4. First to let somebody challenge me on the race near the finish line
5. First to break in a new shoes on the race day
6. First to run with no sleep the night before the race

As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, I had a vehicular accident involving a motorcycle Saturday lunch time. To make the story short, I was told by police to shoulder all expenses so that I won’t be arrested and my car will not be impounded. That night so many questions were bothering my mind. I was not able to sleep, I’m very worried, the race preparation I did that night was not enough to get my brain into “race mode”. After writing my post that night, I slept around 11pm. With my mind still not cooperating with me to sleep, I was all awake thinking several things, the next thing I knew, it was already 3:45am and I need to get my ass up to take a bath, dress up, have a short breakfast and drive the car to McKinley.

I picked up Rodel and his bother in Bacoor and we reached McKinley around 5:15am. There was some confusion where to park runner’s car, I was told by a race marshal to go another building so I did a U turn and parked my car on the 2nd floor of that building. I saw Luis on his way to park his car too. Without waiting for him, I asked Rodel’s bro we could head straight to the race area by jogging to serve as our warm-up. As I exited the building, the rain was very obvious. I was actually excited about the rain as I haven’t experienced running race-mode in that atmosphere. As we reached the race area, the announcer told us that the race will start 30 minutes late and all runners (3k,5k and 16k) will start at 6:00am. With this scenario, I figured out to make some “minor” adjustments to my strategy. I told Ferds and Gabs that we’re gonna do comfy(1st-4th km)-hard(5th km -8thkm)-slow(9-12th km)-ultra hard pace(13th-16th km) in the race. However, as we started running, I noticed that it would be very hard to follow that plan as the 3k and 5k would also be running with us. I decided to run faster to give my self more space and to follow the pace I want, however Gabs and Ferds were nowhere to be found I ended up running alone in the first 6km. Later in the SMS Luis sent me, I was told that I was running 4:20/km(laughs) which was waaayyy beyond my comfy pace.

Ferds later found me and we ran together for 2km or 3km. With no sleep later that night, I wasn’t able to maintain my pace and I just told Ferds to go ahead of me. As I was running alone, it was this time I started observing the race. Here are my observations:

1. Water stations were plenty. I didn’t encounter a single water station running out of water. Cups were already filled with water. Some water stations also have bottled water.

2. Race marshalls were helpful, they were not just standing flesh and bones.

3. Markers were very helpful. I believe no one got lost during the race unless they ignored to read the directions for 3km and 5km roads.

With these three factors, I believe the race organizer did a great job. Kudos to Adevents for making this race a successful one.

The climax of this race for me was the last kilometer. I tried pacing with sir Felipe Dumpit. He knew I was struggling, probably because of my sleepless night plus with no training at all for uphills, the look on my face would be very obvious on that stage. He was saying encouraging words, that the finish line is near and I can do it. All I need were those words and soon, I would found myself running faster. On the last 200 meters, a guy on my right started running with me. I knew he was inviting me for a challenge. And boy we were running really fast! I noticed the crowd was starting to get involve in our little race and soon enough, they were yelling and cheering at us. As I was wearing my takbo.ph singlet, it will not be too easy to hide to save my face if I lose that game*laughs*. Utilizing the remaining Ninja power left on my legs,(plus the will to save my face), I exploded and zoomed in to the finish line, way ahead of him obcourse I was so wasted after that particular little game I had but at the same time very happy of what I just did. Looking back I thought its really all about mind game. The encouraging words from sir Ipe and the crowd cheering at us made me sprint like crazy. Later I found sir Ipe and I have to ask him his finish time as I don’t have any to determine mine. He said he finished around 1:41 and knowing I ran ahead of him, I probably finished the race earlier than that. Later he told me that as he was looking at me ran towards the finish line, he noticed the crowd was cheering very loud on our little game and he was very thankful he wasn’t the one who ran with me to the finish line. Hahahaha! Sir if it wasn’t for you, I could have just walked all the way to the finish line. Thanks sir!

As I was sitting alone after a very explosive finish I did, Doc Tap approached and asked if I’m OK. I said I’m OK so he left me. I tried to stand up, walked, jogged and stretched just to make sure I’m really OK and didn’t injure myself after the crazy stunt I did. And yeah boy I was happy, I’m not injured! I went back to where the takbo.ph guys were hanging up and after some photo-ops, we all decided to go to Mac Do for some food. I guess with the lack of sleep, my memory was so jumbled I didn’t know where I parked my car. I have to look for Luis because I knew he parked in the same building where I parked my car. As we reached the building, we went to the 2nd floor and Luis easily found his car easily, meanwhile I was scratching my head figuring out where the heck I parked my car. I knew I parked it near the CR section but I still couldn’t found my car. I went to the first floor and 3rd floor and still couldn’t found my car. After 15 minutes, I went back to the 2nd floor and finally have to tell the guard that my car is gone. He told me that there was one black honda city on the other end of the building and so I went there. True enough, my car was there! As I was on my way to Mac Do, I got an SMS telling me to visit the patient I just hit….and so I went straight to the hospital to face my life’s reality again

Lessons learned:
1. Don’t try anything new. On this particular race, I tried 100 Plus for the first time and realized later that drinking carbonated drinks during the race is not good for me.
2. Get enough sleep the night before the race. I do believe that had I got some sleep, I could have improved my finish time. This is a huge factor during race which most runners actually ignored.
3. I really have to be serious on uphill training. I have no uphill training at all, as my area where I run is all flat. Now I got to find a place where to practive uphill running, or maybe just buy a manual treadmill which is usually 45 degree inclined.

But then where can i get the money after shelling out php51,000 for the hospital bills!! Hahahaha

Update:
Monday lunch time, the patient is already discharged of the hospital and now resting in his house. Thank God I can now sleep soundly.

The pictures (all grabbed from Doc Erics photos):

Takbo.ph Guys

Almost two weeks ago, I posted in this blog about Adidas promo and I thought this is too good to be ignored. So I headed to their Adidas Greenbelt store days later and bought for myself Supernova Sequence that cost me Php 3,900. Had it not been for the php 1,000 discount (original cost is php 4,900), I would have not bought this shoes for the fear of verbal spanking from my wife

Essentially an upgrade from the very popular Adidas Supernova Control series but much lighter, I’ve been using this shoes on my running sessions to break it in at the DLSU-D Oval and so far I like the support this shoes offer. As I do have an annoyingly sweaty feet during runs, this shoes has absorbent moisture wicking that keeps my feet comfortable and dry. Add to this the Adidas-patented cushioning and and the midfoot structuring, this shoes guides my foot more efficiently with less muscle fatigue. Using Supernova Sequence during my run makes me feel stronger and I seem to notice that it helps me propell forward rather than slow me down on impact.

How I would use this:
I would probably use this for running 10k or half marathons.

Features:

• Fabric mesh upper is breathable and light weight
• Leather and synthetic overlays provide better stability and durability
• Padded tongue and collar and removable insole cushioning for secure fit and extra comfort
• Moisture-wicking fabric lining absorbs excess perspiration to keep feet dry and cool
• Adidas patented adiPRENE midsole and 3D ForMotion provides lightweight and flexible cushioning and guides foot to promote proper running form
• Durable outsole with exclusive Torsion technology for great structure and high traction tread pattern

Supernova Sequence Fabric Mesh Upper section

Adidas patented adiPRENE midsole

3D ForMotion provides lightweight and flexible cushioning

3D ForMotion provides lightweight and flexible cushioning

How It Fits

• Sizing: Standard running shoe length
• Heel: Narrow to medium
• Midfoot: Medium volume
• Forefoot: Medium
• Toe-Box height: Medium
• Arch Structure: Medium height

Weight: 12.1 oz (size 9)

Pronation Control Technology

Designed for mild to moderate over- pronation

• Midsole: Pro-moderator medial support, Formotion heel, torsion system
• Shape: Semi-curved
• Construction Last: Strobel-lasted Adiprene 55 in the heel, traditional strobel-lasted forefoot

Cushioning Technology

• Midsole: Compression-molded EVA
• Heel: adiPRENE, Formotion
• Forefoot: Full forefoot adiPRENE+

Upper Materials

• No-seam fit technology, quick-dry open air mesh, 360-degree reflectivity

Outsole Technology

• Heel: Adiwear carbon rubber
• Forefoot: Blown rubber

Adidas Supernova Sequence cushion

Adidas Supernova Sequence Heel section

Adidas Supernova Sequence stability shoes

Last week I saw this marketing video from Nike:

I thought its funny how Nike could use naked people wearing only Nike Free 5.0 on their running camp. Having said that, the video really emphasizes a concept called “barefoot training“. I researched about barefoot training and was surprised to know some actually does it to enhance their performance. For instance, some coaches in the US make their track and field team run barefoot on grass to strengthen their feet muscles. This cannot be done using regular running shoes. Nike Free’s core feature is to allow runners to use it as a tool in strengthening feet as weights, dumbbells and similar equipments are used to add strength our arms and limbs. As I’m starting to get really serious in improving my runs, I finally decided to try it myself. I asked first my wife (a non-runner) to try it so that I will have an unbiased and honest answer how it feels using it. She used it to walk/jog for 1km then she headed straight to gym using same shoes. I asked her how it was and here’s her feedback:

- feels comfortable and very relaxing

- you have total control of the shoes, not the shoes controling your movements

- feels like walking barefoot on a soft surface

- doesn’t stress her feet unlike her other shoes

I then used it and proceed to my “secret” training ground *laughs* called DLSU Oval Track . The first time I wore it, indeed it feels comfortable. It fits my feet like a glove and I could probably use it without socks. I run slowly for 2 kilometers and I noticed that its flexibility didn’t hinder my stride. The outsole is grooved so that each inch of my foot can flex as it wishes to:

. Additionally,it made doing lunges so much easier.

My verdict:

Pros

• Flexibility is the name of the game.The shoes mimics running barefoot and it does help you develop better perception of the body weight, support and muscle efforts related to your weight and consequently muscle strength of the lower extremities.
• Comfortable upper section is breathable.
• Extra-ultra light and without any extra padding and support,  they are still comfortable for a feet with wide width like mine.
• Strengthens and trains you feet

Cons

• Does not come in different widths, although it fits just right on my feet. I understand that some with larger than average width may not like it at first.
• I wish they could come up with more colors. The one I have is neon green/krypton-kind of green I thought it would glow in the dark if I turn off all lights. You’ll never see Superman using this.

How I’m going to use this shoes:

First of all, I will never use this on my races. Human feet has evolved so much with the shoes on that I might suffer greatly if I used this on my races. However, I will use this on my speed work/tempo runs to build strength on my muscle feet. I will slowly build my mileage on it so that my feet would become comfortable using it then gradually increase on the distance.

For more info, please do visit the official Nike Free 5.0 website.

Features:

• This running shoe was built for the neutral to under-pronator who requires lightweight cushioning.
• Nike® Free mimics running barefoot on grass, which studies have suggested helps to develop stronger feet.
• 5.0-specific upper provides just enough support while still allowing the foot to move in a natural, efficient and barefoot-like manner.
• Minimal use of seams and internal layers enhance comfort, with or without socks.
• Expansive use of breathable mesh enhances comfort and ventilation.
• Overlays are strategically placed to balance the fit, durability and support of a shoe with the dynamic flexibility of the foot.
• An asymmetrical lacing system and unique tongue construction help to reduce pressure over the top ridge of the foot.
• Molded sockliner mimics the curvature of the foot for a great fit, enhanced comfort and added support.
• Phylite midsole provides a resilient ride and enough durability to double as an outsole, dramatically reducing overall weight.
• Deep Nike Free sipes molded along the length and width of the midsole enhance flexibility and stability.
• Wider sipes, in a women’s specific design, across the forefoot allow for greater engagement of the toes through propulsion for increased muscle activation and a more barefoot-like experience.
• Abrasion-resistant BRS 1000 carbon rubber under the crash pad enhances durability in high-wear areas.
• Waffle outsole provides traction and durability while also encouraging a more neutral and efficient toe-off.