In the spirit of running and being a runner, I willed myself to love what I loved doing over the past 3 years. As much as I hate to admit it, but I haven’t been enjoying running lately. Swimming and spinning has taken up most of my time lately which is good. I have been feeling a little guilty because I haven’t worn my running kicks for the longest time.

I made time for myself to run last Sunday and Monday. I did 11 and 15 kilometers respectively and they weren’t easy. I could blame the weather or my new shoes but the real reason I had a hard time was because of my zero mileage. I wish I ran more.

In other news: I am cooking and dieting again. Today’s food was Two Mushroom and Bacon in light soy. I would have been the perfect light snack but the bacon jinxed it.

It looks a lot more appetizing and it certainly tastes a lot better than what it looks like in the photo. I am also back on my camote diet. I hope I can sustain this up until Camsur which is in August.

Around this same time last year, I joined my first multisport race. It was the 2010 edition of the Ateneo Aquathon. I could barely complete a good 50 meter lap on the pool back then but I managed to finish the 400 meter swim in 14 minutes and the 3 kilometer run with a very pedestrian time of 15 minutes.

That was a photo of me last year. Excited. Full of enthusiasm. Poised to conquer. Ready for the water. But beneath all that was a fear that I wouldn’t be able to finish the race. Back then, I could not even think of swimming with out my earplugs. My strokes in the water were never close to perfect. My inexperience in the swim manifested itself in the finish results as I came out of the water after a very very long 14 minutes.

This is me just before race start of the 2011 edition of the race. I have less hair and have found a new love for the water. I went to the race more confident and more prepared. With over a year of swimming mileage under my belt, I came into the race with an eager drive to best myself from the year before.

I came with friends and it was a joy to do the race with them.

A 600 meter swim and a very easy 5 kilometer run separated me from redemption that day. Even though it was already my 5th multisport race, I always get that feeling of hurling just before the start. As Marvin said, it will always feel like the first time; Full of jitters and uncertainty; Full of fear and anticipation.

My wave finally jumped into the water and I was welcomed with a very piercing feeling of the cold water and it didn’t help to drive out the jitters. I was with at least 19 other guys in the pool and as soon as the starting horn was sounded, it was an explosion of energy rushing from the testosterone engorged pool. It was push or be pushed. There were guys overtaking me left and right and even over me. Being a small guy, I was being bullied in the water. As much as I wanted to fight back, my size didn’t permit me to. I stayed on course and swam. I zoned out and tried not to push myself too hard because there was still a 5k run after. After a couple more strokes, the next thing I knew was that I had finished the 600 meter swim. I am happy to report that I finished it in 13 minutes. I managed to swim at least 2:15 per 100 meters and I was happy. Transition came and it was time to put on shoes and my race belt.

I have always been a runner and I think I will always be one. I will always come back to my first love because it is what I enjoy the most. As I went out running, I could feel the joy creeping in. I ran one of me best 5 kilometers that day for me. I clocked my 5 kilometers with a time of 24:25.

I was targeting a total finish time of sub 43 minutes that day. My actual finish was 37:25 and I couldn’t be happier. I managed to achieve two things that day. I was able to put my swim training to the test. The countless hours at the army pool after work really paid off. With hard work comes results and that is what I got in the race. I was also able to redeem myself too. It was a great victory having bested myself from last year.

A big thanks to Team Endure for the cheers. A big thanks to Marvin for the photos!

Thank you for joining guys!

A big special thanks to our sponsors for making all this possible.
Adidas
Milo 3 in 1
Sassa Activewear
Nature Valey
Men’s Health
Women’s Health
Runner’s World
BlackBerry

A big shout out to the volunteers from ANR! You have our utmost eternal thanks!

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All photo credits by my good friend and excellent photographer Marvin Opulencia. Check out his stuff here:zmarvin.multiply.com/​

Endure spent the last Sunday doing an easy 5k at the recently concluded Immuvit Race Against Time Run. It was a fun free event where anybody was free to join. It was part of Immuvit’s campaign to raise awareness about feeling young and not thinking about your age.

I had fun running my 5k with Erick. I paced with him and it was fast. I think we managed to do a 25 minute 5k. Had trouble keeping up with him and I think he had trouble holding himself back so I can keep up. I was good training for me.

I had a lot of fun listening to the talk. I learned a lot about Somatoprine and how it is the chemical that keeps us young. The release of it slows down as we age but with the right diet and exercise, we can induce our body to release more. With the help of Immuvit, we can fight Somatopause

Thanks to our resident ultramarathoner and ultra-triathlete Ronald, the team also got some pairs of VFF’s for running use.

Thanks to Cherry and Carlos for experimenting with us! We will not fail you guys! We will put them to good use! I’ll try to come up with a review as well in the coming weeks!

If you aren’t busy this Sunday, come over to BHS for a VFF run. It will be a lot of F-U-N fun!!

More photos of the fitting after the jump!

Ever since I took up swimming and biking, I have been seriously forgetting the need to run. I have been putting off running for so long now that the calluses on my feet are all gone. I have been putting off running for so long now that it somehow doesn’t feel natural for me anymore.

After a good month long break from running, I ran again last night but that same euphoric feeling that I experience every time I run wasn’t there anymore.

I planned to run my normal 11 kilometer route last night. It was quite ambitious given the fact that my last run was a measly 5 kilometers more than 2 weeks ago at Dean’s Cup but I still aimed to do it. It started off pretty good and it felt really really relaxing to be running again.

Feeling the breeze flowing through my ears was always a sensation I yearned for when I ran. I was happy I still got felt that. It was relaxing and exhilarating at the same time. It was a blast feeling the strong gust of winds along Esensa. It was a joy running along the side walk of Lawton Road. The occasional game of patintero between road deformities, pedestrians and jeeps were always a good way to break to monotony. The rush going down Mckinley always proves to be what I enjoy most from the route; fast, weaving and certainly the easiest stretch that I will run through.

Things started going down hill when I was on my way out of Mckinley. My lungs and body could handle the effort but my feet can’t. My long break from running was rearing it’s ugly head to haunt me. The long break has apparently thinned the calluses on my feet. I started to feel a burning sensation on my left foot and I could really feel the need to slow down. With every step I took, I could feel the blister getting bigger and squishier. I slowed down considerably. I had to stop at 9 kilometers because pain was beginning to be unbearable. I need to run more regularly to get those calluses back.

I finished off the run with one loop around BHS and I could never have been so relieved to stop. Has the love for running faded? Has the joy of pounding my feet on the ground proved to be too stressful for me? Have I unlearned running? I think I just need to run more often. Got to get back into the groove.

I am far from calling myself an experienced triathlete and I believe it would still take countless hours in the pool, on the bike and on the pavement for me to really come close to the level of experience that elite triathletes have but here are some things to keep in mind when on race day to make sure that your first race will be fun and that you will live to race another day.

Prepare your gear before you go to sleep. This includes race kits, goggles, swim cap, the clothes the you will wear. This even includes your bike. Make sure everything is rolling OK. Pump up your tires to 100 PSI. Don’t forget your water bottles. Don’t forget your bike tools. Don’t forget your shades and your helmet. Put them in a transition bag (I keep mine in a transition bag. Its a bag where I keep my shoes, bike shoes, some clothes, and everything else. I got mine at Secondwind. Cheap too!) or a basket.

The blue bag there is my transition bag. I always keep everything in that bag so there’s no chance of me leaving something at home.

Set up well at transition. As soon as you get body marked, head on over to transition and hook up your bike to the bike rack. Take out your shoes and open them up. That way, it will be a snap to put them on later in the race. Put a little powder as well around the ankle area so that your foot will just slide in even if they are wet. Set up everything in a way that once you get there you won’t forget anything. Put your helmet on top of the bike to make sure that it will be the first thing you’ll grab! Safety first!

Take it easy in the swim. Nobody wins a triathlon by blazing through everybody in the swim. Take it easy and slow. Don’t get too caught up in the crowd because all you’ll get are lungs full of water. Be prepared to get kicked but don’t let that put you out of your groove. Zone out and just swim! An average of 2.5 – 3 minutes per 100 meters is good enough and you’ll still be able to get a good and decent finish.

T1: Top to bottom. In transition 1, coming from swim to bike, wear everything from top to bottom. Helmet, Shades, race belt, shoes. Make it systematic so you won’t forget anything. Make sure you wear you’re helmet the right way and not the other way around.

Attack with your strengths. If you’re strong on the bike, give them hell on the road. If you’re a good runner, give them hell on the pavement.A lot of my friends have finished this way. Gingerbreadman Luis on his first duathlon blazed through his run to overtake and finish ahead of most of the guys.

T2: Drop everything and run like hell. I heard of many horror stories of people crashing in the run portion of at triathlon. Make sure you still have some energy left and that you can still run easy. Spin easy on your last kilometer on the bike to give you legs some sort of breathing space. Don’t go out running with your helmet on!

Dance to the finish. It’s your first triathlon so you might as well make your finish memorable. Do a cartwheel. Scream out loud like a Spartan. Crawl to the finish. Do anything. Just make sure you finish the race happy and enraged and fueled to join your next triathlon.

I went to Hong Kong 2 years ago to satiate my thirst for camera gear. We were looking for Tony Leung’s place called New Sankyo. We had a lot of trouble finding it and we came to a point where we almost quit trying to look for it. We eventually found it but upon our arrival, it was closed.

That is how I felt after I crossed the finish line last Sunday as the 2nd Powerade Duathlon. I trained for it. I sweated blood and tears for it. But I still came short. I was targeting a finish below two hours but I was 3 minutes over the mark.

Aside from the fact that I did not reach my target, it sucks even more because my legs hurt and are still sore. I still can’t walk properly even after 3 days. And to top it all off, I am feeling all this all for nothing. My body hurts, my shoulders are sore, when I wake up I don’t feel rested, I am over trained, I can’t walk properly; all for nothing. I put in so much time into this and I still didn’t reach my goal. I did everything right and I still missed the mark.

I hope I have better luck next time.

I am a running addict. I’ve ran so much since I started late 2008 that I cannot really count how many kilometers I’ve ran already. I am sure that I have surpassed 1500 kilometers. Maybe we can start a 1500 kilometer club?

What you see is a collection of most of my running singlets. That’s only 24 of what I was able to get last night from all the others I could not find anymore. I know it’s a lot and I think I have more. I think I am missing 3 or 4 more singlets.

I love my black Takbo.ph singlet. It is iconic. It is a collectors item. But above all that, it has been a gateway for me to get to know other people in running. When I was just starting out with running, I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t have any friends. Every time I wore the Takbo.ph singlet, other people from Takbo.ph approached me and made friends with me. Thanks Argo for introducing yourself at Milo Marathon 2009. It was great meeting you Doc Topher at the AutoReview Run 10k. We had a good easy run that day.

The Rota run singlet is my constant reminder that I should strive to do better. I ran a sub 1:45 21k that day and so did everyone else. Everybody was surprised that the course was short. Everybody was disappointed and everybody felt deceived. Instead of riding on the bandwagon, I saw it on a different light. It chiseled in my mind that if I train hard enough and run hard enough, I could someday complete a sub 1:45 21k for real. Up to this day, the Rota run singlet is my reminder and inspiration of what could be.

The Ateneo Sesquicentenial run singlet at the right bottom corner is a proof of my hard work. I ran a 23:50 5 kilometer run that day and it is true that if I train hard enough and run hard enough I can get better and faster.

I love my Botak singlets. They may not be the most comfortable ones but I love them because they make me look like a seasoned runner even though I’m just a newbie.

I have a story for each of those singlets but I am sure this entry would get too long. How many runs have you joined? How many singlets do you have already? Tell me about in the comments!

The 2nd Powerade Duathlon is only weeks away and I need to put in some good run training. My first attack at the race left me breathless because I ran myself out in the first run. After learning from it and trying to figure out what went wrong, I have been vigilantly trying to improve my running endurance.

I did a tempo 6k last night and it looks like it needs more work. I wanted to see if I can run a 5:20 pace for the whole 6 kilometers. I started off really well but I slowly started to fade in the last two kilometers.

As you can see from the splits, I was no where near my target of a 5:20 pace. I need to improve this time. My last attack at this distance, I was able to finish the 6 kilometers in 31:51 minutes but that run left me gasping for air when I hopped on my bike. If I could run a little bit slower and maybe able to finish with my lungs intact, it would be a big success.

Last night’s run felt good and easy. After the 6 kilometers, I felt OK and I felt like my lungs weren’t about to explode. I think I can still push for a 30 minute 6k but at my fitness level right now, I don’t think my lungs will still be intact. I guess with little more training, I can push a 30 minute 6k with my lungs still alive. I guess with more tempos, I can finally push it to a more decent time.

If I can somehow manage a fast and easy 6k, might be able to get my sweet revenge at the 2nd Powerade Duathlon. My target right now is to not burn myself out in the first run part and I think my training is pulling off. I rested a little bit after the tempo last night and right after, I proceeded to run another 3 kilometers. The next 3 kilometers felt really easy. I felt fresh and I wasn’t panting like a diesel engine in the morning.

It was an easy sub6 minute per kilometer run and it felt good and easy. If I can feel the exact same way on the bike after the hard 6k run, I will be extremely happy. I need to see if I can manage to feel the same way on my bike. I need to do a brick this weekend.